Jiang Shouzhong subconsciously lifted his head and t Dugu Luoxue’s warm, gentle eyes. In the next mont, his spirit shook, feeling as if it were being gently tugged by a mysterious, invisible force.
As he ca back to his senses, his surroundings had completely changed—he found himself in a world cloaked in silver purity.
The expanse was vast, covered in ice and snow.
Pure whiteness surrounded him; heaven and earth were indistinguishable in the endless curtain of snow, presenting an ethereal and immaculate beauty of the highest degree.
"Where is this?"
Jiang Shouzhong was stunned and shocked.
By his side, Dugu Luoxue’s calm and pleasant voice ca through, "Jiang Mo, from where do desires originate?"
Jiang Shouzhong turned around.
The woman was standing quietly in front of him.
Snowflakes fell from the sky, cascadingly beautiful and spiritual.
Different from her usual plain dress and hairpin, the female master was now wearing a plain white gown, and even her hair had turned to frost and snow, casually draped over her shoulders.
Her hair strands swayed gently in the wind, each emitting an indescribably enchanting charm.
Like the elegant mist in the morning twilight,
Dugu Luoxue was not wearing shoes, her delicate and crystal-clear feet, akin to the carved alabaster of white jade, tread lightly upon the snow without leaving the slightest imprint.
In this mont, the woman was utterly at one with the world around her, transcending the mundane.
She was like a lotus blooming amidst the snow.
You couldn’t harbor even the slightest impure thought about such a woman.
Any unclean thought would be a desecration of the purest, most sacred woman in the world.
"This is your Daoist School."
Jiang Shouzhong seed to understand sothing and said softly.
Li Guanshi had ntioned before that so cultivators in the Feathered Transformation Realm would have an epiphany of having a Daoist School of their own.
He had seen Li Guanshi’s Daoist School.
Resplendent above the nine heavens, standing proudly at the summit of the mortal world.
Li Guanshi had reminded him that the force of Dugu Luoxue’s Abstinence Doctrine was not rely in her words but lay in her unique Daoist School.
The world before him was the very Daoist School of the female master.
Clean, pure, untainted by a speck of dust.
Devoid of all desires.
Just like her na, after the snow fell, everything was white.
"So, your goal is still ."
Jiang Shouzhong wasn’t foolish. He had co to realize that Dugu Luoxue’s purpose in discussing the Dao this ti was still him.
Having him accompany her was just an excuse.
Dugu Luoxue didn’t deny it, gazing at the vast expanse of whiteness and softly said,
"I intend to borrow the Esoteric Sect mother and have a debate with you on the Dao. I know that it might be sowhat unfair to do so, considering you haven’t reached the cultivation of the Feathered Transformation Realm yet.
However, the desires of a person are not equivalent to the depth of cultivation they possess. Moreover, your argunts last ti were sufficiently capable. I hope this ti, I can truly convince you, purify the desires within your heart."
As Dugu Luoxue’s voice trailed off, a figure in a red and yellow Kasaya appeared not far away.
The Buddhist mother showed no surprise or fear at the world before her. Instead, she smiled, brought her hands together and spoke slowly,
"Amitabha, the Buddha said, a flower is a world, a mind is a universe. The Daoist School of Dugu outshines even the Buddhist Sect’s Blissful Daoist School by not much. This humble monk considers it a fortune to witness it today, and now I have no regrets in this life."
Dugu Luoxue pointed at Jiang Shouzhong, "Shall we then use him as a marker, how about that?"
"Fine."
The Buddhist mother nodded gently.
A marker?
Jiang Shouzhong was about to ask when the scene before him suddenly changed, and he found himself standing on a small boat, drifting quietly on the water.
On the left bank stood the Buddhist mother.
On the right bank stood Dugu Luoxue.
The Esoteric Sect mother brought her hands together and chanted a short Buddhist mantra, then sat cross-legged.
The next mont, two naked won appeared by her side.
The won had lovely faces and skin like jade. Their bodies were adorned with beads of sweat as they lay on the ground, looking at Jiang Shouzhong with seductive, wispy glances, inviting his gaze in a pitiable and irresistibly charming manner.
They slowly extended their hands, beckoning to Jiang Shouzhong.
Similarly, on the bank to the right,
Two skeletons appeared beside Dugu Luoxue.
They mirrored the movents of the won across from them, lying on the ground, inviting Jiang Shouzhong.
It looked like a reflection of the other bank in a mirror.
One side is flesh.
One side is bone.
One side is the exterior.
One side is the interior.
All that is seen is illusion, all that is observed is truth.
Underfoot, the river began to exude tendrils of aura, at tis scorching hot, at tis ice cold, like the heart of a man.
With the passage of ti, more and more won appeared on the bank.
Each flaunted herself with provocative gestures, emitting an incomparable allure.
And no matter how many enticing won materialized around the matron of the Buddhist Sect, Dugu Luoxue’s side would always mirror a skeleton, moving identically, corresponding to them.
Every ti Jiang Shouzhong’s desire fluttered, the little boat would drift automatically towards the matron’s shore.
But when he caught sight of those skeletons, he hesitated again.
Although he tried to separate the two, a voice inside his heart kept telling him they were the sa; they were one and the sa.
Where does carnal desire stem from?
It’s the temptation given by the outside world, the stimulation provided by that skin.
But once you strip away that enticing skin and face the chilling bones beneath, how can it stir the carnal desire within?
Dugu Luoxue’s thod was simple, to reduce everything to its essence.
To dispel the layer of insubstantial miasma in front of her.
She revealed to you a truth, forcing you to directly confront that beneath the skin that once captivated you, there was nothing but bones.
Caught in the mix, Jiang Shouzhong could think.
But his body was entrusted to a mysterious force.
His emotions were beyond his personal control.
He was like a leaf, vacillating with bodily reactions and ntal states, becoming a tool.
If it were just this, it would be fine, but what’s worse is, situated within Dugu Luoxue’s Daoist School, the sensation of purity and diminished desire was always lingering in his mind.
At the sa ti, it could stir a person’s thoughts, reaching another state of emptiness and rationality.
In Jiang Shouzhong’s eyes, those flirtatious won gradually beca repugnant and unbearable. And when they reached a certain level of pleasure, the licentious expressions on their faces appeared utterly grotesque.
"So it turns out that those who fall into carnal lust gradually consu themselves, completely becoming puppets of desire..."
Jiang Shouzhong seed enlightened.
As ti moved on, Jiang Shouzhong’s carnal desires grew fainter.
His boat, unknowingly, drew closer to the bank where Dugu Luoxue stood.
The past affairs he had with other won, when recalled now, could not stir any emotion.
Jiang Shouzhong stepped onto the bank, and the skeletons all disappeared.
The beautiful won by the matron’s side turned into wisps of green smoke and vanished.
The matron sighed softly, and her figure disappeared.
To debate within another’s Daoist School was an exceedingly difficult task, subject to nurous constraints.
But a loss was still a loss.
Dugu Luoxue looked at Jiang Shouzhong approaching her, her crimson lips slightly parting, "Jiang Mo, what did you see?"
What did he see?
Jiang Shouzhong looked at the woman of unparalleled beauty in front of him, instinctively about to say "woman," but when the words reached his lips, they beca "skeleton."
"Do you still have carnal desires?" Dugu Luoxue asked.
The snow danced around, forming beautiful whirls around the woman, as though hypnotizing the man.
This debate seed more like the implantation of a thought of abstinence into the man’s heart.
To brainwash him.
Jiang Shouzhong countered, "What is carnal desire?"
Dugu Luoxue smiled faintly, yet just as she prepared to once again cleanse the man’s thoughts, she heard Jiang Shouzhong speak:
"If you truly want to prove whether I have no carnal desires left, why not take off your clothes and see if I’ll be moved? Are you afraid to undress because you’re scared you’ll tempt ? Does that an you have carnal desires too?"
The female master froze, a look of astonishnt on her face.
In an instant, the man’s words carried a strange magic, planting themselves in her heart.
Ripples began to form on the previously still lake of her heart.
The Daoist School is the heart of a person.
When Dugu Luoxue chose to implant her thoughts into Jiang Shouzhong, likewise, he could plant thoughts into her.
[Since you believe people have no carnal desires, why don’t you dare to undress?]
"You—"
Dugu Luoxue sensed sothing was amiss.
She ford a hand seal with her right, ready to use the special nature of the Daoist School’s abstinence to preach to Jiang Shouzhong.
But the next mont, the man in front of her revealed a sly smile, pulling her into his arms and lowering his head to kiss her red lips.
Crack—
The previously pristine sky now showed a crack.
The snow suspended between heaven and earth, and the boundless snowy landscape began to lt away.
Dugu Luoxue’s eyes widened in disbelief.
In desperation, she hastily withdrew her Daoist School, bringing them back to reality.
Indistinctly, she heard Jiang Shouzhong say, "Your brainwashing only works on the living, too bad, I’m dead..."
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