Chapter 142 - 100: Discussing the Dao with Luoxue

Chapter 142: Chapter 100: Discussing the Dao with Luoxue

"If cultivation is nothing more than staring at the dirt beneath your feet, haggling over every last ounce of power within your body, you’re turning living water into a stagnant pool and forging your Spirit Root into a stubborn rock.

My aura sweeps forth like a spring breeze across the plains, unrestrained by any single form.

My spiritual light scatters like starlight upon a river, present everywhere at once.

Your Excellency uses metaphors of tangible, solid objects like ’treasure cauldrons’ and ’lustrous pearls.’ That perspective is already a step below. How can one see the true meaning of the natural way with such a view?"

"Slick words!"

At that moment, Shangguan Luoxue’s competitive spirit was completely ignited.

She was a distinguished Garrison Envoy, a Twelfth Realm Great Cultivator. If word got out that she had been bested in a debate on the Dao by some Third Realm upstart, where would she hide her face?

Shangguan Luoxue’s brows shot up in anger:

"The path of the Dao is long and arduous! It relies on the persistence of water wearing away stone and the will to pass the torch from one generation to the next!

You belittle the foundations and speak idly of the ephemeral. How is that any different from building a tower on sand or picking flowers from a mirror’s reflection?

I fear the day you boast so arrogantly will be the day your Dao Foundation crumbles to dust!"

"You are mistaken again, Your Excellency."

Jiang Mu shook his head, a look of pity on his face, as if he were looking at a child who had lost her way.

"When water wears away stone, it overcomes the ’stone’s’ obstinacy. When the torch is passed, what is passed is the ’fire’s’ spirit.

You speak of ’persistence’ and ’will,’ yet you treat cultivation as a path of hard labor, like carrying a mountain on your back, every step a struggle. How utterly burdensome!

If Daoist Skills were so grueling, how could one ever be truly free?

I think that you, Your Excellency...

...are the one who clutches a pearl so tightly, afraid it might be sullied, that you end up suffocating its brilliant light!"

"You—"

Shangguan Luoxue’s breath caught in her throat.

The chill radiating from her body suddenly intensified. Her originally flawless, ice-like Dao state actually rippled from these few pointed questions.

Ran Qingshan, watching from the side, was dumbfounded, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

’My heavens!’

’Has our Hall Master always been this audacious?’

’He’s going to bring the sky down!’

Shangguan Luoxue’s chest heaved slightly, and a trace of fury appeared in her light purple eyes.

From a young age, her talent had been exceptional and her Dao Heart firm. She had always been praised for her icy bearing and exquisite Dao Heart.

When had anyone ever so bluntly pointed out a flaw in her state of mind?

Worse, it felt like a veiled jab at her for having a narrow perspective, for being bound by her own achievements.

An unprecedented feeling of shame and anger, mixed with the thrill of having a hidden nerve struck, quietly rose within her.

She suppressed her emotions, her stunningly beautiful face turning frosty as she said coldly, "Absurd! Cultivation in this world is governed by rules and laws..."

"Rules?"

Jiang Mu’s gaze was clear as he interrupted her again.

"The rain does not nourish grass without roots, and the Great Dao only guides those with whom it has an affinity. The true Great Dao is a moment of sudden enlightenment and harmony, not a set of rules to be followed by the book.

Your Excellency, are you cultivating the Dao, or... that ’path of rules’ trodden so heavily by countless predecessors that not even a blade of grass can grow?"

BOOM!

Shangguan Luoxue felt as if a thunderclap had exploded in her mind, leaving it ringing.

’My composure... I’m actually losing my balance!’

She tried to steady her mind.

But she found that her Dao Heart, once as clear as a mirror, was now clouded by a layer of irritable dust that she couldn’t wipe away.

It made her extremely uncomfortable.

"With a temperament like yours, even if you happen to catch a glimpse of the Dao’s wonders, it’s nothing more than a castle built on sand, ready to collapse in an instant!"

Trying to save face, the woman’s words came out in a rush.

"When I spoke of ’rotten filling,’ I was referring to the arrogant heart of someone like you, with your unstable foundations, who dares to lecture on the Celestial Dao!"

’Well, well.’

’The Little Fairy’s defenses are completely shattered.’

’So we’re resorting to personal attacks now, are we?’

Seeing this, Jiang Mu couldn’t be bothered to argue with her anymore.

Trying to reason with a woman was already an incredibly foolish endeavor. Especially one who had lost her cool.

So he spread his hands and deployed the ultimate appeasement tactic:

"Ah, yes, yes, yes. You’re right about everything, Your Excellency."

"..."

This soft rejection left Shangguan Luoxue so choked up she almost couldn’t breathe.

She also realized she had just lost her composure, and her words had become petty.

Seeing his punchable expression that screamed ’I won’t stoop to your level,’ she grew even more furious, fighting the urge to just slap him.

She had originally summoned this kid to ask about Beitang Batian.

Now, she was too angry to even care.

"Ran Qingshan!"

Shangguan Luoxue barked coldly.

"Have him rewrite a report on the Han Mansion incident, from beginning to end, in painstaking detail! There must not be a single omission!"

With that, the woman waved her sleeve.

Purple snow danced wildly within the hall.

Amid a distortion of light and shadow, her graceful figure vanished into thin air.

"Heh, runs away when she can’t win the argument."

Jiang Mu pursed his lips, inwardly scornful.

Ran Qingshan wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with a wry smile:

"Xiaojiang, oh, Xiaojiang, you’re just too blunt. That’s the Lord Guardian Envoy! Couldn’t you have just humored her a little?"

Jiang Mu shrugged, looking unconcerned.

"It doesn’t matter. First impressions are the most important. Since she was prejudiced against me from the start, anything I did would have been wrong.

That being the case, why should I bother putting myself out?

Besides, I can’t be bothered to see her again anyway. We’ll just stay out of each other’s way."

"Rest assured, I have no intention of seeing you again either!"

A cold, angry voice suddenly drifted down from the air.

Jiang Mu: "..."

He froze for a moment.

’Great. Just great.’

’A distinguished Garrison Envoy, and she’s eavesdropping?’

’How pathetic!’

...

...

Shangguan Luoxue returned to the silent Underground Palace, the frustration in her chest still not dissipated.

She walked to the edge of the Spiritual Spring Pool beside the Cold Jade Platform.

Looking at her own wavering reflection in the water, she suddenly raised a hand and struck the pool’s surface from a distance!

BOOM!

The placid water exploded, sending a spray several yards high. SPLASH! It soaked the jade tiles by the poolside.

A few cool droplets splashed onto her cheek.

After venting, she quickly calmed down.

What followed was deep annoyance and self-doubt.

’How could I have let that kid’s few words disrupt my state of mind so easily? I even lost my composure in public and spoke so viciously.’

’Is my Dao Heart really so fragile?’

’Or is it because my serious injuries haven’t healed, making even my Dao Foundation this weak?’

Recalling their confrontation, she realized she had plenty of counterarguments that could have suppressed him. Why hadn’t she been able to organize an effective rebuttal at the time?

Instead, she had let him lead her by the nose and ended up losing control of her emotions.

Shangguan Luoxue couldn’t figure it out.

For a moment, she even felt the impulse to go back and "argue" it out with him properly.

But the thought had barely formed before a deeper sense of reason suppressed it.

’A distinguished Garrison Envoy, chasing after a Hall Master for a debate?’

’How improper!’

’My Dao Heart is clouded by dust... clouded by dust...’

She sighed, consoling herself.

’It must be because of my severe injuries. I failed to maintain the clarity of my spiritual altar, which is why I was so easily disturbed by external things and lost my composure.’

But one thing was certain—

she truly never wanted to see that kid again.

’He’s so infuriating!’

’Just thinking about him is annoying.’

Of course, with her status, if there was someone she didn’t want to see, she could ensure they would never appear before her again for the rest of her life.

’If I ever see that boy again, I’m not even human!’

Shangguan Luoxue slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, forcing herself to calm her emotions as she sat cross-legged on the Cold Jade Platform.

A lustrous, cold energy seeped into her body.

It allowed her agitated spiritual altar to gradually return to its usual icy clarity.

For now, more important matters awaited her.

The Purple Mansion Agreement within her was on the verge of reaching the Seventh Layer.

Once it did, she could open the "Purple Mansion Divine Realm" and forcibly drag out that person who had also successfully cultivated it but had been hiding their identity.

She would pull them into the Divine Realm and find out who they really were.

’I wonder what kind of person they are...’

At this thought, the irritation in Shangguan Luoxue’s heart gradually faded, replaced by a faint sense of anticipation.

’I hope...’

’...they’re someone pleasant.’