"It hurts." In the side hall, Miss Shi covered her neck with her hands, tears in her eyes.

"Can I get you some ice?" Luo Yan sat next to the chair, holding a copper incense burner and a book in his hand.

"It's all because your legs are too stiff!" Shi Liuli said angrily.

"Blame me, blame me." Luo Yan surrendered at the speed of light.

In the whole side hall, there were probably only Luo Yan and Shi Liuli, who were sitting on cushioned chairs, wrapped in blankets, holding incense, and reading comfortably.

The other monks all had red eyes, hunched backs, and disheveled hair. They flipped the pages of the book over and over roughly, as if they wanted to tear it into pieces.

In this side hall, most of the books are observation logs about the Guixu Formation, and a small number are notes left by some formation masters for those monks with no basic knowledge to learn the art of formation - the latter is what Luo Yan was concentrating on reading.

In addition, there are a very small number of books, which are diaries left by some monks who have the habit of writing, recording their life stories and the atmosphere of the times. Miss Shi uses them to pass the time.

"Junior brother." Shi Liuli suddenly said, "Why do most of these ancient cultivators mention hostile sects or even enemy cultivators in their diaries?"

"Logically speaking, whether a monk can finally achieve enlightenment depends solely on his own practice, right? Why do they always want to fight and kill?"

"Senior sister, what you said makes sense." Luo Yan was secretly surprised. When did this Miss Shi start to be interested in history? She even knew how to read history and think about it. "But cultivation is indeed not that simple."

"The so-called wealth, friends, Dharma and land are all indispensable. In essence, it is a competition for monastic resources. On the basis of conflicts of interest, it will lead to more intense hostility and confrontation."

"For example, the conflict between humans and demons in ancient times was because the demons wanted to eat human flesh and blood, while humans wanted to get the demons' inner elixir."

"Another example is the dispute between the Chan sect and the Jie sect in ancient times. It was because the Jie sect wanted to 'teach without distinction' and 'open the door to all wonders', which threatened the interests of the Chan sect..."

Shi Liuli seemed to understand what was said, but he managed to understand one thing, which was the root of all evil: "conflict of interest".

"Look at this Guixu again." Luo Yan said earnestly, "Everyone is trapped here and can't get out. Time is almost infinite. They are so bored that they are almost going crazy."

"At this time, the original conflict of interests is no longer important. The most important thing is to escape from here as soon as possible. Therefore, the human race and the demon race can keep their distance from each other, and the monks of the Chan and Jie sects can ignore each other, and everyone can live in peace."

"I see." Shi Liuli suddenly realized and asked, "Then if one day, your interests conflict with the interests of everyone in Tiangong Workshop, will you choose to betray everyone?"

Luo Yan was so frightened that his soul flew away. Did he discover my identity as a traitor?

However, he soon saw from Shi Liuli's expression again that she had no intention of testing or doubting him at all at this moment - in fact, she was just asking casually.

This Miss Shi is really good at talking.

"Ahem." Luo Yan coughed and said sincerely, "Senior Sister, if I encounter this situation, I will definitely sacrifice my own interests to protect the interests of everyone in Tiangong Workshop. Because Master will definitely compensate me afterwards."

Shi Liuli was suddenly choked, because if Luo Yan didn't say the second half of the sentence, she would definitely question whether this conflicted with what he said before, "conflict of interest determines everything."

Thinking about it carefully, there is nothing wrong with what he said. My father really thinks highly of him...

Thinking of this, Shi Liuli blushed again and quietly hid her face behind the book.

What she is reading now is a diary written by an ancient nun.

Because of the sect's arrangement, this female monk became a Taoist partner with a senior brother whom she did not like.

Therefore, the diary is full of contradictions between the lines: on the one hand, she could not tolerate the personality and habits of this senior brother, but on the other hand, she had to admit that the identity of this Taoist companion brought many benefits to her practice.

Thinking back to the last time his father suggested that he try getting along with the son of Xuan Du's master, Shi Liuli felt some instinctive resistance and irritation.

If my father insists on arranging a marriage for me, like the nun in the diary, what should I do?

In comparison, being with my junior brother doesn't seem to be an unacceptable choice.

Thinking of this, Shi Liuli felt a little shy and uneasy, because this idea was too frivolous. How could she have such an unreserved idea?

It's all Junior Brother's fault! He said that if he was trapped here, he would be content as long as he was with me... How could he say that to Senior Sister!

With a "bang" sound, Luo Yan's head was hit lightly by Shi Liuli with a thick book, as if to vent his anger.

Luo Yan:?

"Read the book carefully!" Shi Liuli glared at him and lectured him.

How have I offended her... Luo Yan thought helplessly.

With his ability to understand a lot from a single word, his learning efficiency was extremely high. The books he had read had already piled up like a small mountain behind him, and his understanding of the art of formations was improving by leaps and bounds.

Even in several ancient books, Luo Yan found several long-lost wonderful formations that were extremely useful in various occasions.

However, there was still no progress in cracking the Guixu Formation.

This formation was more advanced than any formation he had ever understood.

If the formation that Luo Yan mastered was the four arithmetic operations, then the difficulty of the Guixu formation could be roughly compared to a supercomputing-level problem, which made Luo Yan almost despair of having no chance of cracking it.

No wonder so many cultivators in Guixu became insane in the end...

Luo Yan sighed, closed the book and stood up.

"What are you doing?" Miss Shi hurriedly stood up, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to the central courtyard to see the wood used to make the Sanyu Treasure Ship." Luo Yan replied.

"I'll go with you!" Miss Shi had already decided to stay with him all the time.

The two of them left the side hall and walked in the corridor. Miss Shi mustered up her courage and asked in a low voice:

"Brother, if we are really trapped here and can't get out, what should we do?"

"If that's the case..." Luo Yan pondered for a moment, "The first thing to consider is how to maintain my sanity under the long passage of time."

"Alas." Shi Liuli nodded worriedly, "There are only two days left before the Sanyu Treasure Ship Secret Realm closes. In other words, we still have eight months here..."

As for what will happen if the deadline is exceeded, it goes without saying.

Assuming that the secret realm will not be opened until a thousand years later, then if it is placed in the Guixu Palace, it will be at least more than 100,000 years.

If he really fell into that situation, Shi Liuli thought to himself that he didn't understand formations at all and was unlikely to join in the research, so his life would inevitably fall into an extremely terrifying state of emptiness.

If I want to maintain my sanity, maybe I can only fall in love with my junior brother to avoid being driven crazy by boredom.