"You..."
Senior Brother He was slightly surprised after hearing Li Ye’s words.
"It seems your Earth Emotions Technique has been well learned, as you can already sense the emotions carried by the soil and the spirit plants amongst these outer sect disciples."
He sighed softly, "But unfortunately, this is sothing difficult to manage. Spirit plants and soil that have lost their ho have a hard ti maintaining their spirituality nurtured by the elents in a distant place."
"So disciples have enough Spirit Stones to purchase arrays that stabilize Earth Qi and soil spirituality, but the vast majority cannot afford such arrays."
Li Ye had thought of this earlier.
Those arrays capable of individually preserving spirituality and Earth Qi within a certain range belong to very high-tier Spatial Arrays, practically cutting the area off independently.
His Cave Mansion has such an array.
But the number of Inner Sect and Outer Sect disciples is so many that saying one in ten thousand is on the high side, and whether this vast island can even produce one Inner Sect Disciple in the future is unpredictable.
"I know," Li Ye only asked, "I can feel the emotional connections between those disciples and the soil and spirit plants.
If these emotions are lost, it’s not a good thing.
So, what can I do?"
This mont went beyond just considering what would benefit his cultivation; he was also thinking about whether doing this would benefit the sect.
This statent made Senior Brother He lower his head to look at Li Ye: "Many Spirit Plant Masters have asked this question before.
I have answered it many tis.
There is a type of Spirit Beast that can temporarily preserve Earth Qi and emotions; as long as it’s alive on a piece of land, it will prevent the land from being assimilated by the overwhelming spiritual power from outside."
As he spoke, Senior Brother He got up and flew into the cabin of the Flying Boat, and in no ti placed a small creature in front of Li Ye.
It was a chubby dog, its fur color resembling tiger skin, with stripes.
After being put on the ground, it stupidly looked up at Li Ye, its little tail wagging continuously behind it.
Its tongue was panting.
[Na]: Guardian Tiger Stripes
[Mood]: Pleasant
[Status]: Anticipating its own yard.
"This type of Spirit Dog was bred a long ti ago by an elder. As long as it stays in a specific place, it can use its spiritual power to guard the dissipating spirituality and Earth Qi."
Upon hearing this, Li Ye knew there was likely a twist—
Sure enough, Senior Brother He sighed again: "However, these Spirit Dogs value emotional bonds with humans extrely heavily. Once they recognize a master and are abandoned, they would die of depression.
The elder originally intended to distribute such Spirit Dogs to every outer sect disciple, so they could guard their yards.
But later... the tens of thousands of Spirit Dogs died off, leaving only a few dozen alive.
If it weren’t for your master, True Man Suoxing, intervening, the elder’s wrath could have caused those outer sect disciples to face severe penalties."
"Ah?" Li Ye was surprised, "Our ticulously selected outer sect disciples, how can it be that out of ten thousand, only a few didn’t abandon their Spirit Dogs, while the others were so negligent?"
After all, these are Spirit Dogs personally issued by a True Man of the sect, even a fool wouldn’t easily abandon them; they should take good care of them.
"There might be secrets within that you and I do not know, but this is indeed the truth."
True Man He said to Li Ye, "Since then, no Spirit Plant Masters have attempted again."
Li Ye could not understand the reason behind it.
He thought for a mont, "Can I borrow this Spirit Dog for the Junior Brother? I want to take it for a walk on the island."
"Of course."
"But make sure it stays unhard."
"If you like, you can take it back and raise it yourself."
"Junior Brother understands." Li Ye bent down to gently pet the soft fur on top of the Guardian Tiger Stripes’ head.
The little creature imdiately extended its tongue to lick his fingers, reflecting his own image in its clear and bright eyes.
Even he didn’t know he could look so agreeable.
"Let’s go." He left with the little dog.
Senior Brother He watched Li Ye’s departing figure, muttering to himself, "What a perceptive youth."
"Never mind, I’ll speak to him after he understands the reason."
"The elder should be able to return."
...
Li Ye, with the little dog, walked on the island, nodding and smiling as he passed by the busy outer sect disciples.
It didn’t take long before he noticed sothing unusual about the little dog.
Though its expression unchanged, its steps were still lively as it walked.
Yet on the display status section, a hint of [Spiritual Power Imbalance, Earth Qi Change] appeared.
This was truly bizarre.
Because the hint appeared only on the panel, even with Li Ye’s Spiritual Perception from Jianmu, he couldn’t detect any changes.
Suddenly, Cyan Bird Red Bean, which had been silently resting in the pouch hanging from his waist, popped out and chirped at Li Ye.
"You noticed it too?" Li Ye was surprised, "Do you know what the reason is?"
"Chirp chirp." Red Bean shook its head.
However, through its emotions, Li Ye seed to sense sothing.
He pondered briefly.
He glanced at the little dog following behind him, then approached a Liu-nad disciple he had a good chat with earlier and asked, "Do you keep a dog at ho?"
"What did Senior Brother say?" Liu Suiling almost thought he heard incorrectly.
"I should stay here for a few days. I want to temporarily leave this little dog at your ho. What do you think?"
He decided to observe first, and if it really didn’t work out, he could always take the dog away.
"Of course!"
Liu Suiling wouldn’t refuse, especially as he had raised dogs at ho before. The sight of the chubby dog wagging its tail at him, its eyes filled with joy.
He took the dog into the not-yet-fully-repaired yard and even found so food from the dry provisions he had brought from ho to feed the little dog.
Seeing this, Li Ye was temporarily relieved to leave.
Fortunately, planting Spirit Plants was an easy task for him, allowing him to spare attention on the situation here for the next few days.
However, the situation was not optimistic.
The panel of Guardian Tiger Stripes showed increasingly severe conditions.
A "dying" status had been added after "Spiritual Power Imbalance, Earth Qi Changes."
Yet, its condition hadn’t changed at all from before.
Happily hopping along behind Liu Suiling.
And indeed, the dispersal of Earth Qi and spirituality in Liu Suiling’s yard had stopped, and the Spirit Orange Tree grew ever more vigorous.
"Since there’s no problem with the yard..."
"Then the problem lies with the person."
"Ah, I wonder if I’ll be reprimanded by the teachers for doing this."
Li Ye’s fingers gently brushed over the head of Cyan Bird Red Bean on his shoulder; the fine fur tickled him, and he had already co to a conclusion in his heart.
So he visited Liu Suiling’s ho once again.
Perhaps because Li Ye had been coming more frequently these past few days, Liu Suiling, not being a fool, said: "Senior Brother, is it because of this Spirit Dog?"
In just a few days, Liu Suiling had already grown fond of the little dog that cuddled outside his door to sleep at night, and there was an unmistakable concern in his voice.
"But has anything happened to it? Can I ask Senior Brother to help treat it?"
However, Li Ye simply looked at him and said, "Actually, it’s not that the dog has a problem, but that you have a problem."
"?" Liu Suiling was confused, "What’s wrong with ?"
Li Ye moved aside and gestured for him to sit down, then extended his hand gently. A slender luminous leaf appeared in his hand, which he placed against his lips and blew.
As the Heart Song was played, the scattered spots of Spiritual Light floated within the yard, rging with the land, the trees, and even into the tail-wagging Tiger Stripes Dog.
The lodious tune reflected the pulse of the earth, the sound of the trees rustled by the wind, and the barking of the Tiger Stripes Dog, as if mirroring a small yard.
The only difference between the yard and here was...
Liu Suiling’s figure was absent.
"This is..."
"..."
Liu Suiling closed his eyes, but suddenly realized.
He could no longer accurately recall the scenery of his holand.
The vague mories seed to be behind a layer of mist.
It seed he had already forgotten the scenery of his holand, as the splendid views of the Four Seasons Sect had made him forget the road he had taken in just this half month.
The small Tiger Stripes Dog could hold the Earth Qi of the yard and the land’s spirituality, yet it couldn’t keep the master who was gradually forgetting his holand, with differences in spirituality starting to appear.
This was the reason it was dying.
Its master... no longer needed it, and it had even beco an obstacle.
...
When Li Ye returned to the Flying Boat heavily hearted, he saw Senior Brother He who seed to have already understood his intention.
With a gentle sigh, he said, "This matter is not sothing you and I can change, Junior Brother Li."
"The sect teaches the Earth Emotions Technique to these disciples but cannot make them rember their holand. Even though the uncles tried, they couldn’t retain the feelings that even Guardian Tiger Stripes could not hold."
Li Ye sighed and said, "I originally didn’t understand why the Earth Emotions Technique was a mandatory magic spell for every disciple, but now I understand.
If they can forget the land that gave birth to them, they are bound to forget the Four Seasons Sect.
Only by injecting their emotions into the earth can this heavy weight anchor the cultivators here firmly."
"That uncle was probably angry not only because of Guardian Tiger Stripes’ death but also due to an underlying worry that they would quickly forget their holand, right?"
"Exactly."
A voice ca from behind Li Ye, with a hint of a smiling intent:
"Back then, I cultivated this Spirit Beast precisely to prevent them from truly forgetting the land that gave birth to them."
"..."
Li Ye silently turned around.
"Master."
He solemnly saluted his master, hesitating for a mont before voicing the doubt that had always been in his mind.
"Isn’t this beneficial for our sect? If they don’t forget their holand, how can they patiently serve the sect?"
After asking this doubt, he already anticipated a beating or reprimand.
Yet after a brief wait, only a warm hand lightly patted his head.
Accompanied by True Man Suoxing’s gentle laughter.
"Silly disciple."
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