The Immortal Path of the White Lotus Slowly Unfolds Volume 1 Chapter 116: Sudden Parting
Time flies quietly and silently, and the unnamed island has passed 40,000 years in the river of time. Looking at the lush spiritual trees on the island, the scenery is still pleasant, as if time had never left any marks on the unnamed island, but the demon cultivators living on the island all know that these 40,000 years have not been peaceful inside the island.
The disaster has two sources. One is that a very ugly void beast suddenly appeared in the inner island and wreaked havoc, with boundless magical power, wherever it went, accompanied by pillars of light shooting into the sky. The four major factions were not lacking in masters who went to challenge and stop it, but they were all killed by the beast. The number of demonic cultivators on Nameless Island decreased again and again. After a long time, this beast became a terrifying existence on Nameless Island, and those who entered the inner island would avoid it if they saw the pillars of light shooting into the sky, not daring to provoke it.
Secondly, for some unknown reason, the number of Nameless Fruits on the island has been drastically decreasing over the past 40,000 years. In the past, when a Nameless Fruit was discovered and its vines were harvested, it would take about 100 years for the fruit to regrow. However, in recent times, the speed of regrowth has slowed down significantly, from 100 years to 200 years, and now it takes around 4,000 to 5,000 years for a new Nameless Fruit to grow. As a result, the Nameless Fruits have become even more scarce and precious, leading to intense competition among the four factions. The struggle for control of the fruits has escalated to the point where the relationships between the factions have deteriorated to the point of no return. The four city districts are now isolated from each other, and anyone who crosses the border will be driven out or killed. The people in Nameless City live in fear, worried that they might lose their lives due to the factional struggles at any moment.
Under such oppressive atmosphere, the originally bustling streets have also become desolate and cold. Bai Tu sat in the small wine workshop, gazing out at the bleak streets, and sighed to Xiao Yao: "These days are getting harder and harder to get by, now the nameless fruit only bears fruit once every few thousand years, and not a single month's salary has been distributed among the helpers for several months. Even in broad daylight, there are people who come out to hunt, and many fellow cultivators dare not go out. Fellow Daoist Rong Rou, when will this situation come to an end?"
Xiao Yao sipped the wine from her cup, her expression quite relaxed, and slowly said: "The growth of all things, the changes in heaven and earth, are not something you or I can control. All we can do is wait, and believe that the leader will handle these matters well."
Bai Tu Zhang opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but seeing Xiao Yao's eternally calm and gentle expression, her aura even more peaceful and serene than when they first met. Although he was already used to her indifferent attitude, for some reason, he suddenly felt as if she was quietly observing from the sidelines, detached from the situation. The complaints that were left in his mouth all retreated back into his belly, and he couldn't help but ask: "Chong Rou Daoist friend, don't you ever worry?"
"Of course I'm worried," Xiao Yao smiled and said: "Just writing worries on your face can't relieve them, why bother."
Bai Tu was somewhat skeptical, but didn't ask any more questions. He just said: "I don't know if all of your vanguard camps are like this, but I see that the other four demons also have a completely indifferent expression, without a hint of worry."
Xiao Yao didn't want to burst the bubble, but those four demons must be worried. Now, the island is not lacking in nameless fruits, and they should be secretly laughing in their hearts. Kong Yao has been busy for thousands of years and hasn't had time to deal with them, so it's best if their days aren't too comfortable.
In fact, among the four factions, only the vanguard camp of the Purple Mansion remained unchanged, and neither Xiao Yao nor the Four Demons were greatly affected by the changes in the situation. Over the years, as long as they didn't go to the inner island, they would all stay on their own faction's turf and wouldn't participate in the intense anonymous fruit snatch war outside. If they entered the inner island to search for fruit, everyone relied on their own abilities to survive. At first, Xiao Yao would pretend to follow behind the Four Demons and "give" them a lead, but later on, as soon as they entered the inner island, they would all split up and not interfere with each other. For a long time, it seemed like an unspoken agreement had been formed, with their relationship neither deteriorating nor becoming intimate, just temporarily placed in a relatively balanced position. Due to the birth of fierce beasts and the sharp decrease in anonymous fruit, Kong Yao's side was already at a disadvantage in dealing with this abnormal vanguard camp, so no one paid attention to them all the time. Xiao Yao and the Four Demons' days were indeed more comfortable than before, without exaggeration.
Especially Xiao Yao, who has no demand for the nameless fruit, except for encountering some dangers on the inner island, his life can be said to be stable and fulfilling. Four hundred thousand years may not be considered long compared to the nearly ten million years of a demon's lifespan, but for a human cultivator, it is neither long nor short, and with proper arrangement, he can still achieve something.
At present, Xiao Yao's cultivation has reached the peak of the Huashen period, and it is only one step away from breaking through to the Xuanji period. Although she is still in the Heart Enlightenment realm with the "Wei Xin Fa", she has already reached the later stage of this realm. Due to the fact that this method becomes increasingly difficult to improve as it progresses, it's not considered slow.
Moreover, whether it's a Gongfa or a Xinfa, for Xiao Yao, they are all basic cultivation practices that emphasize gradual progress. She is willing to move forward slowly and steadily, seeking stability and consolidation rather than rapid advancement. Even with the use of Xian Jing for cultivation, the speed of her practice is controlled, and it can't be considered fast. Instead, she seeks a steady and continuous progress, never stopping or stagnating.
Furthermore, a stable state of mind is also essential for continuously refining one's Dao heart. All cultivators seek to achieve a state of "heart stillness", where emotions are not easily stirred up, and only when entering the state of unity with heaven and earth can they make rapid progress. Long-term cultivation in a state of "stillness" helps to settle the mind, polish the heart, and better comprehend the world and its workings.
Apart from these basics, Xiao Yao devoted all her remaining energy to the formation method, and as a result, compared to her slow and steady improvement in cultivation, her attainments in formation methods were rapid. It can be said that in the past 40,000 years, Xiao Yao's greatest gain was not the improvement of her cultivation, but rather her refinement of the formation method. Now on the Nameless Island, apart from the formation method that constitutes the island itself, those formation restrictions set up for the training of demon beasts are already difficult to block her.
Even with such great progress, Xiao Yao deeply understood that this was still far from enough. Forty thousand years of practice and bitter learning had finally allowed her to deeply appreciate the "easy entry but difficult perfection" of array techniques.
Every formation in the array is unpredictable, and even a slight change can produce infinite possibilities. Some changes are even difficult for the array setter to estimate. How to accurately judge the only possibility from the countless changes when breaking the array, and how to control the array method changes without any difference when setting the array, if there is no large accumulation of array methods, it is difficult to grasp and comprehend. She also needs to study more array methods to continue improving.
However, the array set up on this unnamed island can no longer satisfy her aspirations, and the "Practicing Demon Pot" formation is too profound for her. Therefore, over the past few hundred years, she has become increasingly eager to leave and escape this narrow space. She knows that she cannot compare herself to geniuses like Leopard, and even among the many talented spirits in the Spiritual Realm, her talents are mediocre in every aspect. With bad luck, it is already decided that she will not have a chance to obtain rare treasures or ancient secret scriptures that would suddenly improve her cultivation and knowledge. The only way for her to achieve anything is through diligent practice and accumulation of experience over time, but this accumulation cannot be achieved by simply staying in one place and cultivating in seclusion. She must venture out and gain experience from all sides to have any results, and it can be said that leaving has become an urgent necessity!
Xiao Yao's thoughts were wandering, and just as she was distracted, a voice suddenly echoed in her mind: "Xiao Yao, I've found the main array eye."
