"Talk about Mount Shu?"
Alice glanced at Himeko's serious face, thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright then. Where do you want me to start? If it involves sect secrets, I can't say too much."
"I'm… not really sure what to ask. What do you think, Elder Alice?"
Himeko looked at her with clear expectation. Alice pinched her chin, considered, then snapped her fingers.
"Then I'll start from the beginning."
"Since you're planning to join Mount Shu anyway, you might as well hear some of this in advance."
"First of all, our Nine Conducts and Ten Precepts."
She lifted a hand and recited, word for word:
"Conduct in non-action.
Conduct in softness.
Conduct in yielding, never taking the lead.
Conduct in namelessness.
Conduct in serenity.
Conduct in all good deeds.
Conduct in lack of desire.
Conduct in knowing contentment.
Conduct in humility and deference."
"As for the Ten Precepts:
First, you must not disrespect your teachers and elders.
Second, you must not kill without cause.
Third, you must not profane heaven and earth.
Fourth, you must not aid tyrants in their cruelty.
Fifth, you must not tear apart the bonds of kin.
Sixth, you must not slaughter your fellow disciples.
Seventh, you must not be endlessly greedy.
Eighth, you must not betray loyalty or filial piety.
Ninth, you must not indulge in lust, wickedness, or theft.
Tenth, you must not see all others as beneath you."
"Every disciple has to abide by the Nine Conducts and Ten Precepts. If anyone breaks them, even to the ends of the earth, Mount Shu will hunt them down."
"Beyond these, the Disciplinary Hall has its own internal rules for rewards and punishments."
"You'll learn those later."
Himeko nodded, thoughtful, silently engraving each rule into her memory.
Honestly, none of these restrictions bothered her at all.
Seeing that her listener was taking it seriously, Alice went on:
"Mount Shu is an ancient cultivation sect with a long history, traversing both the cultivation world and the Upper Realm."
"It's honored as the head of the righteous path, the pillar of the Daoist way."
"At our peak, the Mount Shu of the Upper Realm had three Taiyi Ancestors, hundreds of Golden Immortals, and uncountable Heavenly and Earthly Immortals."
"In the cultivation world alone, Mount Shu had many who'd reached Unity-of-Void-and-Dao."
"Even there, we stood firmly at the level of a great thousand world, with countless middle and small thousand worlds under our control. We selected promising disciples from those worlds."
She glanced sideways at Himeko.
"As for your world… if I'm not wrong, it doesn't even qualify as a proper small world."
"After all, the Tree-and-Sea universe itself is just a middle thousand world at best."
Himeko's heart shook.
She'd already tried to imagine just how terrifyingly strong Mount Shu must be, but this was still far beyond anything she'd pictured.
"Unfortunately… when the Day of Law's Annihilation came, all worlds were swept away, and everything…"
Alice sighed, looking up at the sky with a hint of melancholy.
"Ahem, Elder Alice…"
Venti coughed softly at just the right moment. Alice immediately shut her mouth.
Himeko blinked in confusion.
"Elder Alice… what is the Day of Law's Annihilation?"
"Uh…"
Alice scratched her cheek, looking a little guilty.
"That's something you don't need to know too much about. Just remember this: it's something even the Sect Master doesn't dare dwell on lightly."
"It involves beings beyond Taiyi. Best not to speak of it."
A chill ran through Himeko's heart, and she hurriedly steered her curiosity elsewhere.
"Mount Shu is a righteous sect, standing in this world for who knows how long. Even now, our foundations are incredibly deep."
Alice quickly changed topics.
"The Nine Nether Mystic Realm, the Xuanming World, the Demon-Sealing Tower—these are all part of the heritage our ancestors left behind."
"Especially the Scripture Pavilion. It holds nearly ninety percent of the cultivation methods the cultivation world has produced since ancient times."
"The Mount Shu of today is developing rapidly. As long as the Sect Master is here, Mount Shu is destined to return to its peak."
Himeko pressed her lips together.
"Elder Alice… I keep hearing everyone talk about the Sect Master. What kind of person is he?"
"The Sect Master, huh…"
Alice scratched her face.
"He's a good person. Very gentle. But you absolutely must not provoke him. Otherwise…"
"How should I put it… a few days ago, the will of Teyvat blurted out the wrong thing and angered him. The Sect Master almost slapped the entire world into fragments."
"The Sect Master is a peerless genius. Since the dawn of time, across all worlds, no one's ever seen an Innate Dao Body before him."
"When he ascends and becomes an immortal in the future, achieving Taiyi is practically already written."
"He's obsessed with cultivation. Basically, if he's not cultivating, he's teaching us how to cultivate."
"Right now, he's gone into the Demon-Sealing Tower to comprehend the Unity-of-Void-and-Dao realm. Once he gets through his tribulation, he'll be a Unity-of-Void cultivator."
"And then he'll have to prepare for his Immortal Ascension Tribulation."
Alice's explanation was detailed enough, but to Himeko's ears, it all boiled down to a few words:
A good person. Loves cultivation. And—
Genius. Genius. Genius.
Still, it was information. Himeko nodded quietly and took it to heart.
"You said the Nine Nether Mystic Realm is the place you're going to explore next, and the Demon-Sealing Tower is Mount Shu's symbol. Then the Xuanming World is…?"
Himeko asked again. Alice blinked, then said meaningfully:
"That's the world where demonic cultivators gather."
Himeko had expected something terrifying, but instead, she just tilted her head in confusion.
"Demonic… cultivators?"
"…"
Alice suddenly remembered that Himeko had no concept of what "demonic cultivators" were here.
"Mm… just think of them as lunatics."
She spread her hands.
"Lunatics who wield cultivation power. For the sake of becoming stronger, they're willing to kill their own parents and children, slaughter entire nations, sacrifice countries in bloody rituals, prey on young maidens…"
"In short, they're the worst kind of monsters, who've completely abandoned their bottom line and become puppets of power."
"With that power in their hands, there's basically nothing they won't do."
"Mount Shu's mission to 'slay demons and exterminate devils' is mostly aimed at people like that."
Himeko's brows knitted tightly.
She could more or less grasp what "demonic cultivators" meant now.
People who wielded cultivation—but discarded their humanity and became devils.
Imagining what they might do was… unpleasant.
"That world is intertwined with our future development, so for now, the Sect Master hasn't opened it yet."
"As for the Nine Nether Mystic Realm, that's a world filled with demons and beasts. Sword Immortal of Wine and Blade—Zhongli's master—once cleaved it apart with a single sword."
"He brought it back to Mount Shu and turned it into a training ground for disciples."
"We'll be going there soon. Zhongli is heading there to kill Azure-Wind Ox, one of the Seven Nether Kings, to avenge his senior brother."
"That's why he stepped into the Demon-Sealing Tower and risked breaking through to peak Refining Qi into Spirit."
"Once he breaks through, with his mastery of spellcraft, he'll be more than capable of slaying Azure-Wind Ox."
"By the way… do you know Erlang Shen?"
Alice's tone suddenly turned mysterious as she looked at Himeko.
"The war god of the Heavenly Court in Shenzhou mythology—True Lord Erlang of Manifestation?" Himeko answered softly.
Alice snapped her fingers.
"Correct. Erlang True Lord is the Heavenly Court's war god, and he happens to be on good terms with one of our Mount Shu Golden Immortal elders."
"So…"
"She created a special cultivation art and passed it down to the lower realm. That's what Zhongli cultivates."
"Put simply… he can invite True Lord Erlang to possess him."
Himeko went silent.
After a long moment, she asked quietly:
"All those gods… actually exist?"
"Of course they do."
Alice shrugged.
"On Tongtian Peak we have Yae Miko, descendant of the Nine-Tailed Sky Fox, bearer of the Heavenly Enchantress Body. The last one with that physique was named Su Daji."
"The Heavenly Court is ruled by the Jade Emperor. The Four Sovereigns and Five Elders sit below him. Countless star gods and celestial generals keep the Immortal Realm in order."
"Nuwa, Fuxi, the Heavenly Emperor, the Three Pure Ones—these figures you've heard of all exist."
"And, by the way… Mount Shu is holding onto the thigh of the Upper Pure Lord of Numinous Treasure. He's a Da Luo immortal, you know."
Himeko's mouth opened, then slowly closed again.
There was no way she could digest this all at once.
All she wanted was to cultivate and end the Honkai. That was her one small dream.
But Alice started straight from ascension, then jumped to the Heavenly Court and a gallery of gods.
The topic was a little… high-end.
Alice realized she'd gone off track and waved a hand.
"Alright, that stuff doesn't really involve us, and you don't need to care about it for now."
"I'll tell you about our current Mount Shu instead."
"Look at those seven peaks."
She and Himeko paused in midair and turned back toward the seven sky-piercing mountains.
"That's the Seven Veins of Mount Shu—the foundation of the sect."
"Though they all belong to Mount Shu, each peak has different duties, different specialties, different systems."
"The Seven Veins are Tongtian Peak, Dragonhead Peak, Great Bamboo Peak, Little Bamboo Peak, Chaoyang Peak, Wind-Returning Peak, and Luoxia Peak."
"You woke up earlier on Great Bamboo Peak."
Himeko nodded in realization. Compared to the distant Heavenly Court, this was more immediately relevant.
"Each peak has inner and outer disciples. Outer disciples live together at the foot of the mountain. Only inner disciples can reside halfway up their respective peaks."
"As for the mountaintops, those are where the peak lords, personal disciples, and elders live, along with certain special structures."
"That's why, unless there's a special reason, no one's allowed to casually fly over the peaks' summits. If you're in a hurry, you use the rainbow bridges to get up there."
"Remember this: if you accidentally fly over the peaks, the formations will suppress you, and the Disciplinary Hall will come asking questions."
Himeko nodded seriously, filing this taboo away.
"The Seven Veins all have different responsibilities. The Great Bamboo Peak where you were is in charge of alchemy."
"Alchemy?"
Himeko glanced at Alice in mild surprise. The latter nodded with a smile.
"Alchemy is a very important branch of cultivation. Naturally, Mount Shu has its own legacy."
"But it's not that Great Bamboo Peak disciples can't fight. It's just that, compared to fighting, they're more suited to alchemy."
"For now, Great Bamboo Peak has no peak lord or elder. The senior disciple is Lisui. Below him are Lisa, Baizhu, Tighnari, and Collei."
"Lisui specializes in cultivating spiritual herbs. The spiritual fields are his responsibility."
"Baizhu is our most talented alchemist. He's particularly skilled with Rejuvenation Pills and Restoration Pills, and very popular—because a powerful alchemist is a priceless asset in the cultivation world."
"Tighnari and Collei spend most of their time at Luoxia Peak, working with Baisheng on raising spirit beasts."
Himeko nodded to herself.
In terms of pure value, Baizhu clearly ranked highest among that group.
An alchemist…
After seeing what a Third-Turn Rebirth Pill could do, Himeko had a pretty good idea of what a high-level alchemist meant.
But… what about the last one?
Himeko glanced at Alice, who chuckled.
"As for little Lisa, she's different. She can do alchemy, but she's actually Great Bamboo Peak's top combat power."
"Because—she's a demonic cultivator."
Himeko's pupils shrank.
In her mind, the image of that breathtakingly beautiful woman from earlier flashed by.
"Demonic… cultivator?!"
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