"Chieftain! Chieftain! What's happening?!"
Sensing that something was amiss inside, Dan Shu's loyal subordinates immediately burst in.
This time, Noldrei didn't even have to lift a finger. Dan Shu simply barked, "Out!"
With a single wave of her hand, she sent her subordinates tumbling back out the door.
BANG!
The heavy doors slammed shut once again.
It was a good thing Xianzhou buildings were made to be sturdy, or Dan Shu's wave would have shattered the entire structure.
In Noldrei's eyes, Dan Shu had transformed into a completely different person.
She seemed to have become instantly more beautiful. Not only had her makeup and attire changed, but the conservative Alchemy Commission robes she wore had shredded and fallen away, replaced by a form-fitting, skin-tight garment.
Her outfit had become sensual and alluring, she had gained the power of levitation, and even her feet were freed from their bindings, now completely bare. Her bust had even grown by a good three sizes.
It wasn't that Dan Shu had intended to suddenly unleash her Mara-Struck power.
She had been deeply moved by Noldrei's "Dialectic of Life," a framework for evaluating life, and had involuntarily applied it to her own contemplation of the Aeons' true nature.
The result was the conclusion she had just reached.
And once the dialectical process begins, it will not proceed to the next stage until the initial contradiction has resolved itself.
Dan Shu sighed. "No wonder you don't believe in any Path or Aeon, and no wonder no Aeon has granted you any power. The power you possess isn't a boon from Abundance at all, is it? I can feel it. Whether it's the immortality of the Vidyadhara or the boons of Abundance granted to the Xianzhou..."
"None of that power has the creative, infectious capability of what you call your 'allergy.' It's more akin to the power of Tayzzyronth, the Aeon of Propagation. But Tayzzyronth's creation of insects is the most foolish approach imaginable. It should have created viruses and fungi that can never be eradicated, allowing them to evolve endlessly within humanity's immune systems."
This time, Dan Shu used no honorifics when speaking of the Yaoshi. She couldn't deceive herself any longer.
Once she started thinking along the lines of the Dialectic of Life, she could never go back to being the Dan Shu of the past.
The title of "believer in the Yaoshi" had become a self-delusion.
The current Dan Shu was actually starting to feel grateful that Noldrei wasn't the Aeon of Propagation. If Noldrei were to become an Aeon, he would surely be the one with the most powerful 'prejudices' in the entire universe.
"Why? If you don't believe in any of this, won't the Pure Land Sect you created eventually be seized by others?"
Dan Shu voiced the deepest question in her heart. She couldn't believe that someone who could craft such a complex system of Aeon cosmology would not believe in it at all.
Noldrei stepped forward and lightly touched Dan Shu's body, discovering that her internal structure was now completely different from that of a Xianzhou native.
If a normal Xianzhou native could still reproduce with an outsider, this current Dan Shu had lost that possibility.
"The creator of a system must never be a blind believer in the power of the system they've created, be it a real-world class structure or an ideological framework. The moment you believe these things are invincible, they become your new prejudice. By the time you realize a grave mistake has been made and wish to change it, it will be incredibly difficult."
"These things will transform into vengeful spirits that bind your hands and feet, making escape impossible. You'll have no choice but to sink into them, forever unable to change the relationships around you."
"Therefore, only those who are not blind believers in a system's power are qualified to wield that power. As the creator of the Pure Land Sect, not only can I not believe in it, but I must also constantly maintain a healthy skepticism about how much real change it can bring."
"This, too, is a way of thinking that aligns with the Dialectic of Life. Do you understand now?"
Noldrei's explanation was crystal clear. Dan Shu had no more questions on that front.
She had just one final question.
Dan Shu asked, "Does the Dialectic of Life itself contain inherent prejudices?"
Noldrei made a hushing gesture and said with a smile, "That, I cannot tell you. Just like what Abundance did, teaching you things beyond your ken will only bring you greater misfortune."
"You can't even transcend the world created by the Dialectic of Life, so you are not yet qualified to discuss with me what lies beyond it."
Dan Shu should have felt her breath catch in her chest, but who could blame her? The body granted by Abundance was just too powerful. She couldn't even experience the sensation of suffocation if she tried.
But her brain did indeed register the illusion of suffocation for a fleeting moment.
The feeling was like a city dweller constantly looking down on a migrant worker as a country bumpkin, only for that worker to suddenly transform into an advanced alien lifeform and, in turn, look down on the city dweller as a mere insect.
Dan Shu didn't pursue the matter and humiliate herself further. She needed time to process what Noldrei had said.
His ideas were still influencing her, and the moment she started to think, she was inevitably drawn back into the framework of the Dialectic of Life.
"Xuan Fu, you... what exactly are you? And what you said about using The Hunt to turn against and kill the Xianzhou people... how did you come up with that?"
Dan Shu found it difficult to describe 'Xuan Fu' using her past experiences. The man's transformations were already beyond the scope of her common sense.
"How did I come up with it?" Noldrei pondered for a moment before explaining. "I just have to recreate the same historical circumstances. It's actually quite simple. Since The Hunt's purpose is to hunt the Abominations of Abundance, then I have countless ways to turn the Xianzhou people into true Abominations of Abundance. When that happens, no matter what, given the Emperor's Bow's established behavior, it will certainly strike them down."
"Commanding The Hunt to kill Xianzhou natives is indeed difficult. But I only need to transform the environment on the Xianzhou into one that the Emperor's Bow must strike down. That is far too simple for me. Any absolute command can be twisted by human hands during its execution."
"The Xianzhou has still not transcended this societal principle. The very existence of Yaoshi believers within your Alchemy Commission is clear proof!"
Dan Shu's breathing grew ragged. She even felt the urge to attack Noldrei right then and there.
"As for what I am?"
Noldrei felt her question was rather redundant.
He looked down at his own body in surprise, then looked back up at her, perplexed. "I'm human, of course! Don't I look human to you?"
'You're a human, my ass!'
Dan Shu didn't even know how to begin to retort. She hesitated for a long while before descending from her floating state. She stood barefoot on the ground, feeling lost and unsure if she should leave.
Noticing her profound skepticism, Noldrei said, "How about this? Go find two female believers from the Alchemy Commission to give me a foot massage. Then you'll know whether I'm human or not."
Dan Shu seemed to freeze, as if her system had crashed. After a moment, she explained, "That's not what the people of the Alchemy Commission do."
Noldrei was quite surprised by Dan Shu's sense of morality. "I know that," he said. "Didn't I tell you to specifically find the believers who aren't too bright? You're already running an underground organization, so stop trying to be a paragon of virtue. Go! Go find me a couple of people!"
With a look of pained humiliation, Dan Shu departed. She felt she never should have gotten involved with this whole Sanctus Medicus nonsense in the first place. She couldn't even run an underground cult better than an outsider.