Gu Shi Yi paused, then continued,
"About a hundred miles east from here, there's a place called Ten Thousand Scrolls Academy. The Academy Head there is a well-known Great Scholar in the academic circle, extremely kind to his students, truly embodying the principle of teaching without discrimination. He is also a Great Cultivator of the Confucian Scholar Cultivation Path. When you go there, do not conceal your identity. Sincerely request his guidance, expressing your resolute determination to learn, and he just might accept you!"
The rat spirit knelt before Gu Shi Yi with a thud,
"Thank you, noble sir!"
He kowtowed three times to Gu Shi Yi, who laughed heartily and gestured with cupped hands,
"With this, I wish Brother Mouse success in his studies. We shall meet again in the future!"
"We shall meet again!"
With that, they cupped their hands to bid farewell. Gu Shi Yi then continued to drive the carriage along the riverbank, traversing more than ten miles of rugged mountain roads before finally turning onto the main road. It was only then that Li Yaner crawled out from her neckline, asking,
"Shi Yi, although that rat spirit has eight hundred years of cultivation behind it and looks like it could transform into its original form, those sharp teeth of its could very well match you in a fight. So why didn't it start with a sneak attack, but instead turned into a man to deceive you?"
Gu Shi Yi laughed and said,
"Our realm has its own natural laws. For creatures like it from the Beast Race that have attained wisdom, becoming a spirit is essentially defying heaven. Unless it has studied Buddhism from a young age, nine out of ten times it will accumulate a lot of karmic debts, such as the deaths of the mountain bandits it killed earlier. Although those people deserved to die, the karmic debts fall onto its shoulders. Of course, killing those who deserved to die means it will carry lighter karmic debts, which it will have to repay in its old age. If it wishes to become a Great Demon or a Demon Ancestor, then the karmic debts it carries will have to be repaid tenfold. Therefore, unless it's one of those Spirits and Monsters who have stepped onto the Demonic Path, most of them do not wish to accrue karmic debts lightly..."
Gu Shi Yi paused and continued,
"As for the Human Race, it is naturally favored by nature, born with higher Spiritual Wisdom than other races and able to absorb nature's spiritual energy. Self-inflicted deaths are permissible, but other races killing the Human Race would incur more karmic debts. For this reason, most of them don't wish to kill humans indiscriminately. However, the blood and Essence of humans are favorites of the Spirits and Monsters and the Demon Clan. The flesh and blood of an ordinary person, if consumed, could counteract several years of cultivation, and the flesh of Great cultivators even more so. Despite this desire, they can't eat human flesh freely. Therefore, some cunning members of the Demon Clan discovered that the Yin Yang Twin Essence is the true essence of human blood and flesh, and they figured out a way to transform into handsome men and beautiful women to seduce the Human Race. Through intercourse, at the very moment of climax, they steal the human Essence. In this way, they obtain the most refined Essence without bearing the burden of karmic debts, as it is given willingly by the Human Race..."
Gu Shi Yi chuckled,
"That's why there are so many monsters and spirits that enjoy seducing the Human Race. Moreover, since these creatures of the Beast Race don't have concepts of morality or even gender distinctions, they transform into a woman when meeting a man and into a man when meeting a woman. In any case, their main tactic is deception!"
Li Yaner twisted her mouth and said,
"So... that rat spirit... is it male?"
Gu Shi Yi nodded with an odd expression,
"Hmm..."
Among commoners, and particularly those who travel long distances, nine out of ten are men. Thus, this rat spirit targets men – add a man to a man, be it male or female, all are suitable, right?
Gu Shi Yi and she exchanged knowing glances, a gesture meant to communicate "you know, just don't say it", while Big Boss silently kept to itself. After laughing weirdly for a while, they noticed that Big Boss was acting out of sorts,
"Big Boss?"
Gu Shi Yi reached out to touch its pointed branches,
"What's wrong?"
Big Boss didn't speak and just sighed deeply,
"You members of the Human Race are truly favored by nature, naturally endowed with Spiritual Wisdom, and you have hands and feet to go wherever you wish, to do whatever you want..."
After speaking, it extended a thin branch to point at the carriage,
"This old sandalwood tree must be older than me, and yet it was still felled to make this vehicle. Fortunately, I was awakened with Spiritual Wisdom. If I were still in my ignorant and chaotic state like before, I might have been found by woodcutters and suffered a similar fate!"
Big Boss had a rather domineering and careless nature, but today it was unusually sentimental. Gu Shi Yi kindly and earnestly tried to console it,
"What's so good about being human? You live for over a thousand years. Although humans are born with Spiritual Wisdom, even Great cultivators can only live up to a thousand years and that's after countless difficulties and hardships. Ordinary people only rush through life for a mere hundred years or so, and every day they have to hustle for their livelihood, living a toilsome and miserly life. Unlike you who were born naturally nurtured, never worrying about food or drink, even with wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, your life is much more comfortable than that of a human!"