Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 376 - 376 375 The Essence of Life

376: Chapter 375: The Essence of Life 376: Chapter 375: The Essence of Life Hou Niao lingered on Bamboo Island, unable to tear himself away.

Setting aside other factors, this place was indeed a wonderful place for cultivation: gazing into the azure waters and blue skies, observing the lush green hills and bamboo, it cleansed his heart and mind and let his imagination run free.

It wasn’t just him; everyone who came here felt the same.

What set him apart from others was his immersion in the down-to-earth action of helping the cultivators of Bamboo Island take care of the Rouge Bamboo Forest instead of just appreciating the scenic beauty or focusing on finding unique Rouge Bamboo.

It was precisely because of this attitude that he came to understand the Rouge Bamboo Forest on the island much better.

Not every bamboo would grow into the Rouge Bamboo, which was widely used in the cultivation world.

In fact, the emergence of Rouge Bamboo in a bamboo forest was a matter of chance.

Because he focused on labor, he could roughly estimate the proportion of bamboos that would become Spiritual Bamboo, probably not more than one in a hundred; which meant that even on Bamboo Island, one might not find a Rouge Bamboo among a hundred bamboo plants, and among a hundred Rouge Bamboos, there might not even be one Xiangfei Bamboo.

They were rare, and because of the vast numbers on Bamboo Island, he had only occasionally found two, both of which were young and not fully grown.

Rouge Bamboo and Xiangfei Bamboo were not two different varieties, but the name referred to the top quality Rouge Bamboos where streaks of rouge merged into lines, seemingly filling the whole plant with a faint red mist from inside out, luminous and flowing, stunningly beautiful.

“Brother Hou, may I give you a Xiangfei Bamboo?”

The little fairy wanted to thank him for his dedicated help over the past few days and planned to give him a gift;

Hou Niao shook his head, “No, the best place for them is right here, growing in the soil, receiving the spiritual essence of the earth.

I wouldn’t want to tuck the corpses of bamboo in my arms.”

The little fairy smiled Yanran, having had more contact, she somewhat understood the temperament of this Sword Cultivator.

Unlike the fierce and malevolent style of the Demon Sect she had imagined, this man was actually someone with a sense of humor and wit.

Even his occasional swearing was an unpretentious expression of his true nature.

What she most agreed with was that this person truly loved nature, not pretending for some ulterior motive.

She couldn’t be fooled on this point, as she was a part herself of nature.

From the way he wielded his sword to cut bamboo rings, it was evident that he didn’t act without care nor followed a rigid procedure.

Instead, he adjusted his sword angle and the depth of the rings according to each bamboo, also including the amount of potion used; it was always just right.

This meant he was really engaging with these plants with his heart, treating them as living beings, not just raw materials to be harvested.

Therefore, it was within her expectations that he would not accept such a gift,

“Brother, I am quite curious, how does a disciple of the sword Dao, known for his decisive and fierce actions, get along so harmoniously with nature?”

Hou Niao smiled proudly, “That’s a long story… Well, I admit I don’t really know.

Ever since the reflection from the Purple Mansion began, this tendency has been getting more and more pronounced.

Did you know, the bridge that led me to my path was of nature’s own making.”

The little fairy’s mouth opened wide in astonishment.

That was not easy to achieve, to use such an utterly insubstantial thing as a guide required a considerable affinity with nature.

In a place like Bamboo Island, among her fellow sisters, only she had such an opportunity; the others all used concrete objects.

Every day, those who planted bamboo weren’t as close to nature as a sword-wielding one.

How did the Heavenly Dao make its judgments?

Or perhaps, had this Sword Cultivator chosen the wrong profession?

“So, do you think there is anything that needs to be changed on Bamboo Island, Brother Hou?”

Hou Niao’s answer was filled with meaning, “I think just like you do.”

Both of them fell into silence, sharing a common sentiment as cultivators who nurtured life in harmony with nature.

After continuing her work for a while, the little fairy finally sighed,

“Ever since the day I was born, it has been like this—this kind of work, year after year, day after day.

It’s not that I loathe to give, but as I grew older and advanced in my realm, I increasingly felt that this way of stripping and urging the bamboo to grow seemed to violate the true nature of plants.

But I dare not speak of it to the Lady, and I rarely see her.

Although the Lady is always amiable and approachable, we all know that Bamboo Island is her Bamboo Island, and no one dares to make their own suggestions.

I only mentioned it to my second senior sister once, and she forbade me from ever speaking such words again… Although she doesn’t say it, I know she too harbors similar doubts.”

Hou Niao was very curious, “If we don’t strip and fertilize, just how much Rouge Bamboo could such a bamboo forest produce naturally?”

The little fairy thought for a moment, “There was such an incident where, due to a shortage of labor and being too busy, a large area of the bamboo forest was left unattended.

I heard the Lady was very displeased…

The result was that section of bamboo forest withered during the blooming season, with not one of the hundred thousand bamboos surviving, let alone growing into Rouge Bamboo.

My senior sisters told me that if we left all the bamboo on the island to grow naturally without human intervention, only the extremely fortunate ones would survive the withering that comes with blooming, and they would have to survive it twice.

Only after eighteen years could they become real Rouge Bamboo.

In that case, considering the area of Bamboo Island, it would be very lucky to have even a few Rouge Bamboos after ten years, not to mention Xiangfei Bamboo.”

Hou Niao smiled bitterly, “The gap really isn’t small at all.”

Neither of them continued the discussion, because there was no point in doing so.

In terms of plant cultivation, the Lady of Bamboo was undoubtedly successful, having greatly increased the maturation rate of Rouge Bamboo, allowing this rare commodity to enter the circulation of the Cultivation World and no longer be unattainable.

But from the perspective of natural essence, such cultivation violated the natural laws of Rouge Bamboo’s growth.

No one knows what kind of impact this might have on the species in the future—whether Rouge Bamboo will still exist, or whether it might evolve into another variety through cultivation?

Hou Niao wanted to ask, what is the true nature of Rouge Bamboo and Xiangfei Bamboo?

But he also knew that it was impossible to find such things on the current Bamboo Island;

It should be different.

Natural growth and forced cultivation are two entirely different concepts.

No matter how powerful a cultivator is, they cannot control the life process of other beings, just as the blind elder said, ‘One element within the ultimate origin is the origin of life itself!’

Many people dismiss such concerns, thinking that their worries are unfounded fears, an overthinking of the issue; but if you look at it from another angle, if Rouge Bamboo were an animal being bred and transformed by humans into another kind of monster, there would likely be very few who could accept it.

And if humans were to be bred and transformed at will…

Then, should there be any difference between humans, animals, plants, and all life forms?

At least according to the basic philosophical principles of cultivation, there is no difference—especially for the righteous schools of the Daoist and Buddhist Sects, where all beings are equal, which is the correct way of cultivation.

Plants too are life forms; they just can’t speak!