"The same old story..."
"General of the Divine Foresight."
The sudden voice came from all directions, startling March 7th so much that she instinctively hid behind Mr. Yang, her eyes cautiously scanning their surroundings to figure out who was speaking.
Everyone's expression turned grim as they focused their attention on the giant face on the Ambrosial Arbor.
As the voice continued to echo, the face slowly opened its eyes.
Those eyes were like golden glazed pearls. Embedded in the wood of the Arbor, they gave Dan Shu's appearance a surprising hint of compassion.
"That outworlder had no contact with me initially. It was only because my Disciples of Sanctus Medicus failed to recognize a true master that he was drawn into this conflict between the faiths of Yaoshi and Lan."
"Are you trying to shift the blame for this conflict onto an outsider? Are you trying to deny the suffering that you followers of the Hunt have brought upon the Xianzhou?"
Dan Shu's tone was gentle, her words holding a hint of defense for Noldrei.
This scene made Elysia raise an eyebrow.
She hadn't expected Noldrei to be considered a decent outsider in Dan Shu's eyes, nor that Dan Shu would see the Xianzhou's current predicament as purely a conflict of faith between Yaoshi and Lan.
"Crude political machinations. If this is the only way you wish to communicate with me, General of the Divine Foresight, then I have no desire to speak with you followers of the Hunt."
March 7th was shocked. This was the first time she had encountered such a polite boss.
Especially since the other party didn't sound at all like someone who was about to self-destruct.
Mr. Yang also hadn't expected Dan Shu to speak up for Noldrei at a time like this.
If it weren't for Dan Shu's explanation, Mr. Yang himself would have almost jumped to the conclusion that Noldrei was just a troublemaking bastard.
Jing Yuan's brows furrowed as he looked up at Dan Shu's giant form, merged with the Ambrosial Arbor.
He asked, "Dan Shu, how many sins have the followers of Yaoshi committed in the past? You are still using the faith of the Xianzhou people to pave the way for your own ambitions of immortality. With all that has happened in the history of the Xianzhou, are you still so obstinate?"
Dan Shu looked at Jing Yuan calmly, then shifted her gaze to Fu Xuan.
Her body was that of a plant, but due to the entanglement of Destruction and Abundance, it seemed to have the ability to breathe and grow like an organic animal.
In the conflict between Abundance and Destruction, a life destined for death flickered in and out of existence.
Fu Xuan felt uneasy under Dan Shu's gaze.
"Is it really? Is it really a matter of faith? The 'Wood Without Worry,' the 'Elixir of Immortality,' the 'Unfettered Body,' the 'Breathing Earth,' and the 'Warbeasts of Abundance' you saw when you came to seal this place."
"The civil war between the common people and the nobility of the Xianzhou lasted for two hundred years, and in the end, no one could be judged right or wrong. Is that a problem of faith in Yaoshi?"
"The Aurumaton Rebellion, where the population of the remaining Xianzhou people was halved again. But the nobility are still the nobility, just under a different skin, a different name."
"For example, General, you and the High-Cloud Quintet. The master-disciple lineage in every post has allowed the Xianzhou to continue operating like a meritocratic aristocracy, without the title of nobility."
"As for the 'Treaty of Harmonious Voice' after the Aurumaton Rebellion?"
"Heh, to sail the cosmos for hundreds, thousands of years, and still maintain such a rigid system... keeping the Xianzhou running. Should I say the people of the Xianzhou are too conservative? Or that the Xianzhou people in the universe are too special?"
"Fu Xuan, as someone from the Yuque, I think you know this very well, don't you?"
"Hand-picked by the Stargazers of the Yuque..."
"Master Diviner."
Dan Shu was practically airing the Xianzhou's dirty laundry, dumping all their past filth in front of the Astral Express.
March 7th was numb with shock. She never would have imagined that the glorious and righteous Xianzhou Alliance was like this on the inside.
The entire leadership was a rotten system of inherited positions, and even the Xianzhou's own people were mocking it.
Would the Astral Express crew not be able to leave because they knew too much?
Dan Heng sighed, as if not wanting to get involved in the sordid details.
Jing Yuan was speechless. While he didn't think the Xianzhou's past choices were right, he believed they were the only choices they had at the time.
He lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "Inducing the fall into long life, greedily seeking immortality, luring into the Mara-Struck, slaughtering their own kind, stealing state secrets, sowing discord among allies, and inciting war... Your Disciples of Sanctus Medicus have committed seven of the ten unpardonable sins. And you have the gall to stand before me and debate the rights and wrongs of our ancestors?!"
"Dan Shu! How can you say such things with a straight face!"
Jing Yuan's eyes widened in anger, his heart filled with deep resentment for the pain Dan Shu had brought upon the Xianzhou.
Dan Shu sighed, the sound echoing in the depths of the Cavern.
"Inducing the fall into long life? It was the will of the people that pushed the Alchemy Commission step by step to grant long life to all Xianzhou people. Since then, all Xianzhou people have become a long-life species, entering an irreversible abyss that we cannot but face."
"Greedily seeking immortality? Of the worldly sufferings—birth, old age, sickness, death, unattained desires, hateful encounters, separation from loved ones, and the flourishing of the five skandhas—which life in the universe does not wish to experience the hundred flavors of the world? To live a little longer, a little longer, to be with the one they love a little longer?"
"Luring into the Mara-Struck? The Alchemy Commission has been pushed to this point. If we want to solve the problem of the Mara-Struck without entering it ourselves, how are we to glimpse its mysteries? If we do not understand the nature of its changes, how can we change this wicked karma?"
"Slaughtering their own kind? That is even more laughable. We have not even started killing, yet we have not killed as many as those ancient nobles. When we had to face the suffering of the Mara, and we tried everything to solve it, weren't you followers of the Hunt the first to kill us?"
"As for stealing state secrets, sowing discord among allies, and inciting war... what secrets are there in this world worthy of the Alchemy Commission stealing? What secrets of the Xianzhou are not already known to the Alchemy Commission from its archives? Sowing discord among allies? Why don't you ask the Imbibitor Lunae beside you? Ask him whether he hates us followers of the Abundance more, or you followers of the Hunt?"
"Inciting war... sigh... I don't wish to say more... If you believe that the Xianzhou people wanted to start a war to slaughter the nobility because of their long life, then so be it. Let it be the Alchemy Commission that started the war."
Dan Shu's words, both defensive and offensive, once again shifted the image of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus in the eyes of the Nameless of the Astral Express.
March 7th whispered to Stelle, "Why do I feel like this boss's stance is more firm and correct? Is there some deeper inside story we don't know? Are we being used as pawns?"
Stelle nodded with a serious expression. "I think so too. Don't you think we've entered the wrong script? This is clearly a political drama script, completely different from the world-saving scripts we're used to."
Mr. Yang pushed up his glasses. He was already considering leaving the vortex of conflict on the Xianzhou as soon as possible.
The conflict of faith on the Xianzhou was too intense. He felt that the Astral Express was too small to get involved.