Spirit Fire

At the same time, he realized that while he was caught up in the peaceful state of mind earlier, time had swiftly gone by without him being aware of it. 

Was it a hundred years or just a split second? One could not really tell the difference.

Thankfully the peaceful state of mind kept him in the low, he was able to somewhat escaped from danger and went deep into Xi Huang.

As for why he was awakened by the singing water deer demon, perhaps it was because he had reached the maximum level of stillness and the water deer demon coincidentally passed by.

This realm was not a mystery nor it was fathomable. But there was a strong sense of loyalty in it. Shen Lian had that realization after going deep into Xi Huang.