"Absurd!"
For the first time, Dugu spoke up to challenge Chen Changsheng's view.
"If what you say is true, wouldn't mortals have become masters of heaven and earth long ago?"
"After all, those mortals are full of the Seven Emotions and Six Desires, and the feelings you spoke of."
Chen Changsheng did not hurry to answer Dugu's objection. He said calmly,
"The reason a mortal's emotions can't change the heavens with a single thought is that they aren't strong enough. More precisely, they haven't become an obsession."
"If a mortal's emotions became an obsession, then given the right opportunity, a prodigious cultivator could rise from mortal origins."
"Entering the Dao Through Obsession—that is the path of an Evil Cultivator!"
Dugu challenged him again.
Chen Changsheng said evenly, "Entering the Dao Through Obsession is indeed the path of an Evil Cultivator."
"But look across the Cultivation World today. Ninety-nine percent of cultivators are walking that path."
"Cultivators who truly follow the Righteous path are exceedingly rare."
"On the list just now, there were only Chen Feng, Hua Feng, Xuan Huo, and the Ten Thousand Years Bodhi Tree of Heavenly Lotus Sacred Land."
"Apart from them, every expert on that list entered the Dao through obsession."
"Dugu, doesn't your fixation on the sword count as an obsession of the highest order?"
Dugu had no answer, but Chen Changsheng showed no sign of stopping.
"Breaking through one's limits does immense harm to a cultivator. Cultivation on the Righteous path calls for steady, gradual progress, keeping that harm to a minimum."
"The path of a Demon Cultivator is about profiting at others' expense. That's why they tend to absorb outside things and gather everything into themselves."
"The path of an Evil Cultivator is more extreme still. Put simply, they harm others without benefiting themselves."