"The... Dialectic of Life?"
Dan Shu murmured the words. She understood "dialectic," and she understood "life," but she couldn't grasp what they meant when combined.
Noldrei had constructed the framework for a new Sanctus Medicus ideology, but that didn't mean he lacked a theoretical foundation of his own.
If it were just a simple patchwork, it would be far too easy. Without sufficient theoretical support, your cobbled-together creation would just be torn apart by a wiser mind pointing out its contradictions.
"Yes, the Dialectic of Life."
Seeing Dan Shu's blank expression, Noldrei knew she didn't understand the term. He changed his approach. "In the 'Pure Land Sect' theory I just laid out, which part do you think is the most important?"
"Which part?" Dan Shu carefully recalled everything Noldrei had just said. After a long hesitation, she ventured, "Karma, emptiness, transformation, birth, destruction, cessation...?"
She wasn't sure if the words she'd chosen were the important ones. They all seemed to be separate and independent, not something that could be linked together by a single theory.
Noldrei nodded. "You've more or less grasped the main points. The foundation of this entire theory is a nested, cyclical structure."
"For example, in the universe, one could borrow its matter to construct a small, isolated pocket universe. It's like a matryoshka doll. Within it, you create a material environment that you can control. Just like this..."
As he spoke, Noldrei manipulated the nearby table, transforming it into a set of Russian nesting dolls.
He handed the dolls to Dan Shu and said, "Open it."
Dan Shu opened the doll in her hands and found another doll inside. She continued this process over and over until she reached the smallest one at the very center.
"Let's assume we live inside the smallest doll. Then, we break through the shell of that small doll and enter a larger one. In doing so, we discover a universe that exists within a nested structure."
"Now, imagine a type of motion that exists in the universe. It can turn a small doll into a large one, placing it on the outside, and it can also turn a large doll into a small one, placing it in the very center."
"Thus, you have a perpetually moving, nested universe."
A subtle smile played on Noldrei's lips, his words becoming ethereal and uncertain, as if he himself were a being traversing between these nesting dolls.
"In the process of that life moving back and forth, the life within that doll eventually reaches a startling conclusion. The universe is infinitely large; beyond the universe lies another universe, endlessly layered. The destruction of one universe signifies the birth of the next, and the birth of every universe preordains its eventual destruction."
"And the background against which this nested cycle of birth and destruction plays out is called—emptiness."
"Dan Shu, a person's 'common sense' contains all the prejudices of their current era. By dialectical extension, the 'impermanence' that this person perceives also contains all the prejudices of that era."
"Life perseveres because of common sense, and it changes because of impermanence."
"The movement of life within its environment is inevitably bound by the prejudices of its time."
"This is the mechanism of the Dialectic of Life."
"I've divided it into four parts: cause, condition, karma, and effect."
"Hetu, the cause. This is the internal cause of life, the source of its actions."
"Pratyaya, the condition. This is the external cause of life, the driving force of its actions."
"Karma, the action. This is the activity of life, the manner in which its actions are carried out."
"Phala, the effect. This is the result of life, the form in which its actions reach fruition. Whether good or bad, all karma will have its corresponding result, which becomes the cause for life's next action."
"Cause, condition, karma, effect. This is the mechanism of the Dialectic of Life, a classic example of nested vital activity."
"And the entire structure of the Pure Land Sect, built upon this ideological foundation, is a signpost pointing toward a new, nested world. Do you understand, Dan Shu?"
"The Pure Land itself is not important. As long as your actions are for the sake of the Pure Land, then the Pure Land will inevitably be realized."
"Wisdom is not important. As long as you are on the path of cultivation, wisdom will naturally emerge along with the karmic force of your practice."
Dan Shu murmured the four words—cause, condition, karma, effect. She looked up and asked, "So, the so-called karma, emptiness, transformation, birth, destruction, and cessation are also just parts that construct the motion of the universe? It's not because the universe truly moves this way, but because all our common sense related to motion has constructed the universe as we know it."
"Therefore, the Aeons are absolutely not concepts generated by the universe itself. Rather, they are the sum total of all the past prejudices of the beings who became them! And once they become Aeons, the power of the universe makes it impossible for them to easily abandon all their past prejudices."
Dan Shu now understood exactly what Noldrei was saying.
No wonder he had said that once you understood the Dialectic of Life, you would never again receive an Aeon's boon.
No wonder his ideas would never earn a passing glance from any Aeon.
No wonder this person, 'Xuan Fu,' had not yet embarked on any Path.
Dan Shu was an exceptionally intelligent person to begin with, and she immediately grasped how to apply the Dialectic of Life to perceive the essence of a living being.
She continued, "The moment a being becomes an Aeon, its own mode of movement is already changed. It can no longer alter the ideological structure of its own being, and it becomes incredibly difficult to cast aside its past prejudices to accept the universe's new ideological shifts—a change that includes the eventual outcome of the Aeons themselves being abandoned and destroyed. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible for conflicts between Aeons to be resolved simply through communication."
"And once we mortals choose to believe in an Aeon, choose to accept their power, we lose all ability to resolve these ideological conflicts. We instead become puppets of the Aeons' ideologies, the swords and blades they use to carve up the universe, ultimately becoming unwitting..."
"Pawns."
"The Aeons are merely cosmic rulers who, after seizing the benefits brought by the material laws of the universe, formed themselves into beings whose very structure is ideological."
"This is true for Destruction, and it is true for Harmony. Even the Yaoshi herself is no exception. Because an Aeon's authority is directly and completely linked to their own ideology!"
"Regardless of whether they are beneficial or harmful to humanity, their fundamental mode of existence is exactly the same. There are no exceptions... and there never will be..."
Dan Shu's faith shattered.
She couldn't imagine that the benevolent, gift-giving Yaoshi of Abundance was merely exercising its authority as a ruler of the universe.
The Yaoshi's boons had nothing to do with emotion or compassion; they were solely related to the Yaoshi's own cosmic authority.
Before Noldrei's astonished eyes, Dan Shu suddenly transformed, becoming Mara-Struck.