Having heard this,
"Dao Brother, haven't you been cultivating your body and tempering your mind lately? Why has your temper grown so irritable these days?"
Another person spoke, his tone familiar and amused.
"Enough. Let us not speak of anything else. At the very least, the sect's grand formation needs to be altered. And recently, all Nine Peaks have put forth certain ideas and suggestions, proposing revisions to the sect's rules..."
Before the words had finished,
an aged voice, heavy with the weariness of time, slowly interrupted. "The laws left by our forebears have always had their reasons. Changing them day after day—do you not realize that our cultivation is nothing more than cultivating the body and mind? Pondering such matters every day will instead lead one astray onto some Leftist Path."
"If one could truly be led astray so easily, then would that not mean the Karmic Affinity at the time one entered the sect was wrong?"
Someone else spoke up, his tone somewhat forceful.
"Those are merely trivial techniques. How can they be compared with the Great Dao? There are countless crooked paths in cultivating the Great Dao. How can we conclude that one's initial Karmic Affinity can determine an entire lifetime of cultivation?" Another voice calmly entered the discussion.
"If that is so, if Karmic Affinity cannot be relied upon, then why not expand the sect's recruitment? Relying on Karmic Affinity alone, the disciples beneath us are clearly showing signs of a generation gap. This decline is plain for all of you to see!"
"Dao Brother, how can you say such a thing!"
"Dao Brother, your words are mistaken..."
Countless voices rose and fell, each holding fast to their own stance, unwilling to yield.
The figure seated at the highest place was vast and indistinct, seeming to