Follow Your Heart
When Lin Xiao found Qingle, he was sitting on the edge of a rocky cliff dozens of meters above the small pond where the little tree spirits often recuperated, staring blankly into the distance.
"Zhenyang Sect has discovered you're missing and is looking for you," Lin Xiao said to Qingle as he approached. "The Spiritual Qi of the Spirit Gathering Pavilion might be more affected by the distance between you and your original body than you think."
Qingle didn't turn around. After listening to Lin Xiao's words, she simply nodded twice slowly. After a long while, she spoke with a melancholy tone, "Fellow Daoist Lin, it turns out I really do have clansmen."
Lin Xiao: I guessed it.
He didn't say anything, but simply walked over and sat down next to Qingle.
"I happened to pass by here before and encountered that group of little tree spirits clashing with the disciples of the Zhenyang Sect. I overheard a few words and had some guesses, but I wasn't sure. I was even less sure what your attitude would be towards them if they were really your people, so I didn't tell you directly."
"They've been waiting for me outside for a long time... Thank you, Fellow Daoist Lin," Qingle said.
Lin Xiao didn't ask him in detail about what happened between him, his clansmen, and the Zhenyang Sect. He simply asked, "Have you found the problem and solution to your cultivation?"
Qingle nodded. "It's actually very simple. I just need to use my innate divine Divine Ability to cultivate with my own kind instead of using my innate divine Divine Ability to cultivate for the rest of the human race."
Regarding this, Dayi hearing that he hadn't improved his cultivation level or realm much in thousands of years since he reached the Spirit Concentration Stage, Da Yi angrily told him that this was all because the people of the Zhenyang Sect used his innate Divine Ability abilities to build Zhenyang City.
They instructed Qingle to use his innate supernatural Divine Ability to not only transform the surrounding mixed Spiritual Qi into Wood Spiritual Qi, but also to further purify it into pure Wood Spiritual Qi and supply it to the Spirit Gathering Pavilion, thereby facilitating the cultivation of the sect's Wood Spirit Root cultivators and earning Spirit Stone to enrich the sect's finances.
This action is of no benefit to Qingle himself. Moreover, Qingle needs to consume his own cultivation to use this Divine Ability. Although the Green Oak Tree can cultivate as long as it is planted in the ground, it is like a pool that is constantly leaking water. Although water is constantly being poured into the pool, water is also constantly being released from the other side. The reason why it has not become a deficit is because Qingle has extremely high talent and his cultivation speed is fast enough to keep up with the leaking part.
Moreover, the people from the Zhenyang Sect told him that the Spiritual Power gained from cultivation must be appropriately consumed. They even cited human cultivators as an example, saying that the reason why those cultivators need to go out for training is because they need to consume the Spiritual Power in their bodies. Only by giving out can there be receiving, and only by keeping the Spiritual Power in the body flowing can one continuously cultivate, improve their cultivation level, and advance their realm.
It was also said that tree spirits like Qingle need to take root and cultivate, and it is inconvenient for them to go out and experience the world to consume their Spiritual Power. Therefore, they can only use their innate supernatural Divine Ability to consume it. This is their way of cultivating.
Since this innate Divine Ability is going to be used anyway, why not use it in Zhenyang City? This way, it can also benefit the Zhenyang Sect and prevent the Zhenyang Sect, which Venerable Changfu painstakingly built with the help of the other two sect leaders, from declining and falling into ruin.
Qingle always felt that this statement was perfectly reasonable, even quite logical.
This is why Qingle never realized why her cultivation had stagnated, only thinking that she had encountered some kind of bottleneck in her cultivation, but due to the difference in race, she could not get a good solution.
This is the disadvantage of him not having the guidance of elders or the inheritance of his racial bloodline.
Because no one had ever taught him, he relied entirely on instinct in his cultivation, and he did not understand the specific details or have a clear concept of many aspects of cultivation.
Logically speaking, Qingle, as a member of the Green Oak Clan, was able to cultivate to the Tongyuan Stage in just a few hundred years, and then further advance to the Spirit Concentration Stage. This speed is considered extremely talented even among the leaders of the Green Oak Clan throughout history.
It should be noted that as a tree spirit, Qingli possesses a long lifespan, and the time required for cultivation is equally long, far exceeding that of other races.
When Dayi heard that their leader had managed to cultivate to the Spirit Concentration Stage in just about a thousand years, without cultivating with his own kind and receiving their support, it was both happy and proud.
But when it heard that the Zhenyang Sect had delayed their leader for nearly four thousand years for their own benefit, it was so angry that its canopy almost exploded!
That despicable Zhenyang Sect!
When Qingle heard the explanation from the Dayi, she wasn't very angry.
He just felt a little confused.
What I've persisted in for thousands of years turns out to be nothing more than something that harms myself but benefits others.
But then he thought, if he had been asked from the beginning whether he would be willing to sacrifice thousands of years of stagnant cultivation in exchange for the peaceful development of Changfu's Zhenyang Sect, he thought his answer would have been yes.
So he wasn't angry about it.
He was unsure about what Changfu had said in his freshman Dayi about forcibly initiating his spiritual awakening before he could do it himself.
Was Changfu really doing it on purpose back then?
In order to make herself work for him, she deliberately rushed to awaken his spiritual power, causing herself to lose the memories of her bloodline inheritance and become dependent on him...
Qingle readily accepted the fact that Zhenyang Sect was exploiting him for their own benefit. Over the thousands of years, he hadn't had much interaction with the other members of the Zhenyang Sect; whenever they contacted him, it was only about Zhenyang City.
But as for Changfu... Thinking back on all the little things she had done with Changfu, Qingle could hardly believe that things were like this, that Changfu was like this.
Qingle asked Lin Xiao the question that had been bothering her.
It seemed that besides Lin Xiao, he didn't know who else to ask.
"What's there to worry about? Just follow your heart," Lin Xiao said.
"Follow my heart?" Qingle asked, puzzled.
Lin Xiao brewed another cup of Ganoderma Cicada Seed and handed it to Qingle: "That's right, follow your heart. You and Changfu were genuine back then, your interactions were real, and your feelings were real. So what's there to be confused or doubtful about? Regardless of whether Changfu knew about your Green Oak Clan back then, Zhenyang City was only found by other members of the Zhenyang Sect after his death. So it was others who were using you. He didn't harm you during your time together, and you were happy with him. Isn't that enough?"
Upon hearing this, Qingle stared blankly at the steaming teacup in her hand.
Lin Xiao took a sip of hot tea and continued, "Besides, you said it yourself, Changfu was only a Nascent Soul Cultivator back then. How could he be sure that he knew about your Great Wilderness Domain's Demon Race race, and so clearly understood the details of your Green Oak Clan's bloodline inheritance? Maybe he just saw a tender sapling growing on your barren clan land that had some Spiritual Qi, and he took pity on you and awakened your spirit."
"Don't dwell on things from the past that we can't be sure of, because we can't go back. These things are impossible to verify; we can only rely on others' speculations and our own guesses. Why create unnecessary trouble for ourselves? It's better to follow our hearts and trust our own personal feelings."