Fu Xuan's mind went completely blank.
She never imagined that her very first meeting with the Master of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus would bring such shocking news.
Wait, the Ambrosial Arbor... wasn't it already severed? The current Arbor has lost its original... no, that's not right...
The Ambrosial Arbor had indeed been cut down, but its root system remained, still brimming with the power of the Abundance.
It was true that the Alchemy Commission had always used the Arbor for medicinal purposes, a fact most Xianzhou natives simply didn't care about. Because the people of the Xianzhou were now virtually immune to all diseases, they never had to worry about treatment, which meant most of them had made little progress in medical knowledge.
Xianzhou natives could even be assigned to the same job for centuries.
This was evident in every aspect of Xianzhou life.
Fu Xuan knew this was distinctly odd, but in the past, she had never thought there was anything wrong with such a life. She had even considered it a perfectly normal course of development.
But now, Fu Xuan was tasting the bitter fruit of this system.
Just because people disliked something didn't mean they shouldn't be educated on the realities of the world. This knowledge was an essential tool for the Xianzhou people to understand the universe.
Once the path of alchemy was completely monopolized by the Alchemy Commission, most Xianzhou natives were effectively unable to distinguish a good elixir recipe from a bad one. One could even say...
The Xianzhou people would inevitably believe that the Ambrosial Arbor was crucial for treating the Mara-Struck.
And therefore, the recipes must be real.
Only now did Fu Xuan realize why Noldrei had urged her to hurry and get the authorities to take over the operation.
But what was the point of understanding all this now?!
Having followed the group to the Scalegorge Waterscape, Fu Xuan was now completely isolated. Even with Elysia waiting outside to support her, she could no longer stop Dan Shu from doing what she wanted.
Dan Shu's voice rose, continuing her speech, "The people of the Luofu are complacent and idle! No one has checked the seal on the Scalegorge Waterscape in years, to say nothing of the calamity brought about by the Sedition of Imbibitor Lunae all those years ago."
"Today, the people of the Xianzhou have long since forsaken their faith in Yaoshi. We will not debate the rightness or wrongness of their choice, for the Abundance's compassion is eternal; it would never revoke its blessings just because someone turns their back on It."
"But things cannot continue as they are..."
"Only by once again attracting the gaze of Yaoshi can we deliver our doctrine of the Pure Land to Its ears."
"And the one to do this shall be the Maitreya, the Bright King, from among our Disciples of Sanctus Medicus today!"
"Only the Bright King, who can shatter the old Xianzhou and create a new one, can truly recapture a sliver of Yaoshi's attention."
"And in her praise of the Bright King, she will sing to Yaoshi of our wish for a universal Pure Land!"
Dan Shu was filled with emotion, her arms gesturing grandly. Under her direction, it felt as if such a being truly could appear and capture the Aeon's gaze.
Dan Shu herself didn't care. She had long since cast aside any concern for her own life or death.
'Among the countless paths and billions of elixir recipes in this world, not one can create a world free from suffering.'
'This is neither the fault of Yaoshi, nor is it the fault of the Xianzhou people.'
'In my heart, I know...'
'I know...'
The more fanatical Dan Shu became, the calmer her heart grew. Her past fanaticism, her former experiments—all of it was sliding into the void within her heart.
As her life plunged to its lowest point, in that instant, it was as if the abyss and the sky had inverted, as if thriving shoots and withered leaves existed as one.
A colossal eye that had never before opened suddenly stirred within her mind.
Dan Shu often wondered: if not for Noldrei's words that day, would she still be the same Preceptor, stubbornly trying to operate the Aurum Alley?
Would she still be the same Dan Shu who believed that once the Xianzhou people regained their sanity from the Mara, she could welcome back the faith of Yaoshi?
Back then, she had been as naive as a young girl clutching at the last straw.
'If it weren't for him...'
'Why did he tell me all those things?'
'In the karmic cycle of cause and effect, is there truly no way to escape suffering?'
Dan Shu felt her life was so pathetic.
She had racked her brain but had never been able to escape the circle Noldrei had drawn with a single casual sentence.
The first half of her life planted the cause. In the middle of her life, she formed a bond with Yufei, the best healer in the Alchemy Commission. In trying to continue that bond, she encountered unimaginable bad karma.
The blow was so great that she even became a manifestation of that bad karma herself. By the time an outsider pointed it out, even though she could see what she truly wanted, it was too late.
The bad karma Dan Shu had created became the consequence she would later bear.
'The karmic cycle I cannot escape, you cannot escape it either.'
'Today, I will sever the fruit of all this bad karma!'
Everything, everything had been set in motion the moment the Xianzhou people sought the Ambrosial Arbor.
Dan Shu's eyes were blind, but at this moment, her heart was clearer and more lucid than ever before.
She held the Stellaron in her hand. It was as still as if it were dead, not daring to move. It seemed to have sensed an unprecedented, vast power locking onto it.
Fu Xuan stared blankly at the scene, an arrow nocked on the bowstring, ready to be loosed.
She desperately tried to find a way to break the deadlock, but her fingers felt as if they had frozen into stiff claws. The usual fluid motion of her divination was useless; it felt as if her five fingers were trying to weave an intricate Chinese knot.
The Stellaron, at this moment, felt like crying.
It felt it should not be in this woman's hands.
In the depths of the star-sea, three different Aeons had simultaneously cast their gaze upon Dan Shu.
At this moment, Dan Shu was like a goddess from legend.
The Stellaron felt it might never witness such a sight again in its entire existence.
Destruction, Abundance, and The Hunt.
Three presences, all converged upon a single lifeform.
All three seemed to be urging the Stellaron, telling it to hurry and lend its power to Dan Shu so she could achieve this unparalleled moment.
A heavy, oppressive pressure descended upon the Stellaron.
The Stellaron hesitated. It still had its own mission: to march towards destruction.
A faint purple glow emanated from Fu Xuan's omniscient eye, the light of her divination enveloping her. It gradually restored some of her ability to move.
'What... what just happened to me...?'
Fu Xuan felt her divinatory powers slowly returning. She realized she had likely just been grazed by the passing glance of an Aeon.
"No! I have to stop her!"
Fu Xuan knew there was no time for hesitation. She had to knock that terrifyingly powerful object from Dan Shu's hand!
She decisively pulled the hairpin from her hair and flung it straight at the hand Dan Shu used to hold the Stellaron.