Jing Yuan's heart sank. He turned to Noldrei and asked, "Where's Yanqing?!"
Noldrei shook his head. "That boy is sleeping soundly outside. He doesn't have much time to pay attention to what's happening in here. Besides, Qingque is also keeping an eye on things, so don't worry..."
Upon hearing his voice, Fu Xuan found it hard to control her emotions.
She hurried towards Noldrei, so quickly that she almost tripped over her own feet.
"What have you done?!"
"Why—"
Noldrei raised a hand to stop the question that was about to tumble from Fu Xuan's lips. He tapped the Dharma Eye on her forehead, effortlessly pushing back the grievances she had been bottling up.
"Calm down..."
"Don't let your emotions easily control your position. Don't easily believe the illusions created by your emotions, and don't try to vent your frustrations on people who seem 'easy to bully'."
"I'm here now, aren't I? It's not like this is an unsolvable problem."
"Don't be anxious, and don't think this is some desperate crisis."
"All you're desperate about is that you can't find the path forward."
"That's how fate is. It's the same when you can't find your chopsticks at dinner."
Noldrei patted Fu Xuan's head, signaling for her to act a little more like the sage she was supposed to be.
"Don't go around exuding an aura of foolishness, making yourself a so-called slave of fate."
March 7th now understood how Dan Shu could speak with such cutting words. It turned out this newcomer was on a whole other level.
Noldrei then asked Jing Yuan curiously, "Brother, didn't I tell you all the details? How did things still end up like this?"
Jing Yuan could only smile wryly at this.
He had indeed communicated with Noldrei before, and they had both confirmed that Dan Shu was colluding with foreign enemies. But Jing Yuan never imagined that Dan Shu would be this powerful, even backstabbing the Antimatter Legion.
Seeing his good brother's expression, Noldrei knew why he was so miserable.
He couldn't help but show Jing Yuan a subtle look of sympathy.
He looked up at Dan Shu and saw that every face, every body part on her, belonged to the Xianzhou natives with congenital defects she had personally cared for.
"Dan Shu, I didn't expect you to still remember those people."
"There was a child waiting outside the Alchemy Commission before I came. She really wants to know what happened to you, and if you were hurt in this crisis."
"Is there anything you want me to tell her? The girl looks quite young."
Dan Shu was silent for a moment before sighing. "There's nothing to say. My kindness to her will only become the cause for the next generation's tragedy on the Xianzhou."
Fu Xuan followed Noldrei with a complex expression. She still didn't fully understand Dan Shu's situation, let alone the children with defects who had followed her.
Noldrei didn't seem worried about what would happen next. He pulled Fu Xuan by the arm and walked up to Dan Shu. "Let's not be hasty about self-destructing."
"I need to tell you about Fu Xuan's future arrangements for the Alchemy Commission, and the future of elixir refinement. We'll need to use the Divination Commission's divinations to control variables and find a better research direction."
"I'm just not sure if your Alchemy Commission can accept such an outcome. And those radical followers of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus... they should have been dealt with by Jing Yuan and the others by now, right?"
Dan Shu's gaze fell on Fu Xuan.
She couldn't help but ask, "Why? She doesn't look like she has the ability to control the Alchemy Commission. Did you create the Pure Land Sect just for someone like her to waste?"
Noldrei waved his hand. "Dan Shu, now you're just being unreasonable. I told you these things, and you still managed to walk yourself into a dead end. And you have the gall to lecture Fu Xuan about being incapable. You've turned the beautiful dialectic of life into this neither-human-nor-ghost form."
He sighed. "I told you, you can't cross the world created by the dialectic of life. It's not that I don't want to teach you, it's just that this is as far as you can go with it."
"Dan Shu, you're still that honest Master of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. Next time, don't play these games of intrigue. What's the point of walking yourself into a dead end?"
"I have many ways to change the faith of the Xianzhou, but I have no interest in such changes. I just want to know if the Xianzhou can withstand the conflicts brought by a clash of faiths, if it can withstand the aftershocks of a clash between Aeons."
"Fu Xuan at least knows to come and ask me a thing or two when she doesn't understand..."
"Dan Shu, have you ever really asked me what to do next?"
The scene fell into an indescribable, awkward silence.
Dan Shu, perhaps because she knew she had walked herself into a dead end, or perhaps because she had completely given up on her own life, sighed as well. "What's the use of saying all this now? The Alchemy Commission, the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus, the Pure Land Sect... do with them as you please. If those followers of Yaoshi can integrate into the future Xianzhou, that would be a meritorious deed."
"But Fu Xuan, I will never acknowledge her. She is not capable!"
Noldrei agreed. "Indeed. Though you took the wrong path, you at least managed to walk it to its end. Fu Xuan is different. She doesn't even know if she's wrong, let alone walk the wrong path to its end. Anyone in this world who forges a new path deserves respect."
After Noldrei arrived, Fu Xuan seemed to be struggling to keep up.
Even the onlookers could see that among this group of strategists, the Master Diviner was at the lowest level.
Jing Yuan was forced to act so desperately because he lacked crucial information.
Dan Shu was in this state because she had walked herself into a dead end.
Noldrei knew the most, but he didn't care about the final outcome, standing apart from everyone else.
Dan Shu once again asked the question hidden in her heart, "In the dialectic of life, are there also inherent prejudices?"
Noldrei looked at Dan Shu's current state with a hint of pity. "Cause, condition, karma, and effect. The four movements of the dialectic of life are actually just one movement: Karma!"
"Cause is the internal cause of life, the driving force of its actions. It is the force of action imposed upon you by other lives that you have accepted."
"Condition is the external cause of life, the driving force of its actions. It is the force of action imposed upon you by other lives you encounter. You may not accept them, but you must acknowledge their objective existence."
"Karma is the activity of life, the form of its action. It is the force of action you release due to the world constructed by others."
"Effect is the result of life, the form in which life's actions reach their fruition. Whether it is bad karma or good karma, there will be a result, a retribution. It is the cause for the next action of life. It is you yourself becoming a new other, a new cause, a new condition."
"The dialectic of life of cause, condition, karma, and effect is actually very simple. It is the world formed by the force of action of all life in the universe. Everything is a form of karmic movement; it's just that the life positions behind the karma are different."
"In the end, you still haven't figured out your own position. On the path you walk, there is no other life. Except for the 'other' who was the cause for you, all other life has 'died' in your world."
"And a mistaken dialectic of life will inevitably lead you to destruction."
"Me, Fu Xuan, Jing Yuan, the Xianzhou people, including those followers of Yaoshi, and even those children with defects—in your eyes, we are all just labels. We are all just conditions for you to try and create karma."
"I taught you the dialectic of life. You saw your own death, but you were also blinded to the life of others."
"The true 'other' you accepted, the one who gave you your 'cause'... are they really still there?"
This was a conversation that only Dan Shu and Noldrei could understand.
The confusion in Dan Shu's heart dissipated in an instant, as if the clouds had parted to reveal the sun.
She said in a daze, "I see! All cause and effect, all conditions, are just the packaged karma of all living beings."
Dan Shu murmured, "I see, I see now... Yufei... the moment you died, the Dan Shu who could see other lives in her heart had already died..."
Noldrei looked around at the others, some bewildered, some lost in thought.
These people couldn't understand the suffering Dan Shu had been through, so they couldn't empathize with her. But then again, it was probably for the best not to empathize with this level of suffering.
Noldrei patted Fu Xuan's head and said with a smile, "It's alright now. Dan Shu has figured it out on her own. The silly girl walked herself into a dead end. How is she any different from those followers of the Hunt who hate Yaoshi? Does she really think she's not just a pawn in the eyes of those Aeons?"
He sighed. "Let Dan Shu... say her final goodbyes to herself."