Complex Emotions

After bidding farewell to the Grand Elder, the two left.

"Xiao Xue, you have already reached Foundation Establishment. Even if you go to the Danyang Sect, you will be safe. Once you reach the Foundation Establishment Realm, Body Seizure is no longer possible!" Lu Xuanji said. "Instead, you will be valued."

"The Danyang Sect has many internal factions, with endless open and secret struggles. If I join the Danyang Sect, I will inevitably be dragged into all kinds of disputes and schemes. I might even become cannon fodder and die in someone's plot. How could it compare to the safety and freedom of the Lu Clan?"

Ye Feixue spoke with great nonchalance.

Lu Xuanji was stunned inwardly.

It felt like someone would rather run their own small business and work for themselves than join a Fortune 500 company and suffer the foreigners' arrogance.

"Actually, those are not the real reasons. The real reason is that I cannot bear to leave you. If I join the Danyang Sect and we do not see each other for ten or twenty years, I am afraid that by then, I will have forgotten you." As Ye Feixue spoke, she moved closer to Lu Xuanji, the distance between them shrinking.

From twenty centimeters to ten.

In the end, their bodies pressed together. They felt each other's heartbeats, each other's breaths so close at hand, each other's familiar scent.

Ye Feixue seemed drunk, as though lost in a dreamlike murmur. "Because of you, the world has value. Because of you, I feel that I am alive. Only when I am with you does life have meaning, only then am I happy. If one day you leave, what meaning would there be even in becoming a Golden Core Ancestor?"

Unable to endure any longer, she stepped forward and kissed him.

She took the initiative without the slightest hesitation.

This man had pulled her out of the mire and brought her into a brand-new world.

This man was her light, her sun.

In the past, she had always felt inferior, carrying an indescribable silence.

But after stepping into Foundation Establishment, her courage had grown ever greater, turning almost mad as she kissed him directly.

Her face flushed red, and she closed her eyes to hide the embarrassment in her heart.

Feeling the kiss, feeling its sweetness, Lu Xuanji frowned slightly and instinctively prepared to push her away.

They had spent more than twenty years together. Because they were too close, it was difficult for Lu Xuanji to feel his heart stir for Xiao Xue, to develop romantic feelings.

In their years together, he had first raised her as a daughter; later, he had treated her as a younger sister.

Yet he simply could not develop the love between a man and a woman.

Perhaps they were too close.

When one was too close, beauty was hard to find.

He instinctively wanted to push her away, but at the moment he did so, he stopped.

Pushing her away like this would hurt Xiao Xue.

They kissed, lingering together.

A moment later, the two separated.

Ye Feixue's face was rosy red. She seemed somewhat shy, though she merely forced herself to remain calm.

"Xiao Xue, you rejected Fairy Qingxue. That is very dangerous."

Lu Xuanji began changing the subject, bringing up another matter as a warning for her.

"I rejected her. Is the Danyang Sect going to send people to kill me because of that?" Ye Feixue said with a smile.

"They would not do that. The weak kill with knives; the strong kill with rules." Lu Xuanji seemed to recall something as he said, "The strong make the rules. Naturally, they will not break their own rules and slap themselves in the face just to kill someone. Instead, they will use all kinds of rules to kill people."

"Why can cultivation families near the Danyang Sect not develop? First, their resources are constantly squeezed dry; second, large numbers of talented people are drawn away from those cultivation families; lastly, there are endless great wars against the Demon Race and demonic cultivators. Family cultivators like us are sent to the front lines, to the most dangerous places, to fight the bloodiest battles. After every major war, cultivation families suffer grievous losses. Many cultivators are either seriously wounded or fall."

"But can we say that the Danyang Sect is abusing public authority for private gain, deliberately suppressing cultivation families? No. Resisting the Demon Race and protecting the territory are cultivators' responsibilities. Besides, cultivators of the Danyang Sect also fight bloody battles in those dangerous regions, and cultivators of the Danyang Sect also fall. The Danyang Sect suffers grievous losses as well."

"After cultivators from cultivation families die, the loss of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator is compensated with a Foundation Establishment Pill, while the loss of a Purple Mansion cultivator is compensated with Purple Sun Jade. Throughout this process, everything the Danyang Sect does is reasonable and proper, in accordance with the rules. No one can find the slightest fault with it."

Yet what seemed reasonable and proper was, in truth, the greatest injustice.

It was like the Danyang Sect conscripting cultivators for war, using the Demon Race to wear down the strength of the major cultivation families and to consume the opposition within the Danyang Sect itself. Everything was reasonable and in accordance with the rules—this was a naked open scheme.

No one could raise an objection.

Or rather, such objections could not be brought into the open. Speaking them aloud would only make one look foolish.

"Brother, I rejected Fairy Qingxue. During the next Beast Tide, the Danyang Sect will send us to some dangerous regions," Ye Feixue said.

"That is inevitable."

Lu Xuanji said, "If the Danyang Sect did not suppress the development of those cultivation families, then over time, the cultivation families would inevitably threaten the status of the Danyang Sect's giants. But at the same time, the Danyang Sect will restrain itself from driving the cultivation families into a dead end, and it will act fairly enough. Without those cultivation families sharing the pressure, the Danyang Sect would also suffer enormous losses."

"Fortunately, the Ye Family, the Wu Family, and the like have Purple Mansion Ancestors overseeing them, along with dozens of Foundation Establishment experts. They are the first targets the Danyang Sect will strike, the targets whose numbers will be culled. Our Lu Clan, on the other hand, does not even rank among them, so the danger we face will be somewhat less."

To give Ye Feixue an accurate understanding and keep her from making misjudgments due to prejudice, Lu Xuanji did not excessively disparage or slander the Danyang Sect. Instead, he gave a relatively objective and fair assessment.

The Lu Clan's feelings toward the Danyang Sect were complicated.

On one hand, the Danyang Sect was an umbrella that protected the Lu Clan.

The Danyang Sect was the main force resisting demon beasts and demonic cultivators. It was only because of the Danyang Sect's deterrence that the Lu Clan could peacefully farm and develop its industries.

The Danyang Sect established rules and created order throughout the Twelve Commanderies of the Chu Kingdom, ending the chaos and lawlessness of the Cultivation World and maintaining relative stability. The competition and infighting among cultivators were all confined within the rules, rather than being like the past, when entire families could be wiped out and people killed at will, with not the slightest order to speak of.

In this regard, the Lu Clan should be grateful to the Danyang Sect.

But on the other hand, the Danyang Sect constantly sucked blood from the Twelve Commanderies, gathered talented people for itself, suppressed certain cultivation families, and used war to continually cull their numbers, making it impossible for many cultivation families to develop.

This made the Lu Clan itch with hatred.

The shifts in these emotions needed to be carefully weighed.

Toward the Danyang Sect, one had to grasp the proper measure. One could not get too close, because then one would be devoured and cheated to death—just look at the Beautiful Country from his previous life. Yet one also could not stay too distant, because the Danyang Sect was the ruler of the surrounding powers. A single policy could cause countless families to rise or decline.