Fang Shu carefully digested what Jiao Lulu had told him before looking at her solemnly and saying, "From what you've said, Lulu, coming to the Moral Profound Teaching seems not to have been a bad thing for you. Instead, you gained a measure of good fortune-
"Never mind. Let me ask you plainly: after living in the Moral Profound Teaching for decades, what do you truly think of its goodness or wickedness, its sincerity or falsehood?"
A thoughtful look appeared on Jiao Lulu's face when she heard this. Then she let out a long breath and said with a bitter smile, "I won't hide it from you, Brother Shu. When we first arrived, we were afraid the Moral Profound Teaching had some ulterior motive, so some of our fellow disciples refused its cultivation methods, spirit stones, and other things.
"But as time passed, we discovered that the Moral Profound Teaching truly wanted nothing from us. At least, it wanted nothing from us Qi-refining disciples."
She then explained why He Shoufeng had sent them to the Profound Teaching.
According to the Moral Profound Teaching's rules, anyone who came from the Profound Teaching Territory was obliged to take in subjects whenever they occupied a stretch of wilderness.
If they could not yet provide protection for ordinary people and the like, they were supposed to select promising young people below Foundation Establishment and send them to the Western Altar.
According to the Profound Teaching's explanation, this served two purposes: first, to replenish the ranks of cultivators under Profound Teaching rule; second, to civilize the natives before sending them back, making it easier to assimilate the wilderness.
Fang Shu raised an eyebrow at these words, catching the crucial detail in Jiao Lulu's account. "You mean our Mount Lu region is what the Profound Teaching