Dyon silently followed behind the two beautiful nuns, not trying to hide the fact he was eyeing their swaying hips from beginning to end. There was just something about long and loose robes falling over the epitome of the female figure that was even more alluring to the eye than a scantily clad one.
What was odd to Dyon, though, was that these nuns were quite flirtatious. They didn’t have the air of conservatism Dyon thought they would have. It was especially weird considering that they were supposed to be the template of purity, yet the movements of their bodies screamed seduction.
Dyon’s blood roared, almost screaming in his head to teach these two a lessen for tempting a tiger with raw meat, however, there was nothing he could do.
“Big brother,” The voice of the younger twin sister called out, capable of making the bones of males and females alike melt. “This is our hall of worship. We gather here at dusk everyday to pay our respects to our ancestors.”
‘This little vixen.’ Dyon slightly clenched his jaw. ‘So seamlessly going from calling me young master to big brother, what exactly are they trying to do?’
The more time Dyon spent with these two sisters, the more confused he became. What was their purpose in seducing him? Could it be that The Cathedral wanted to dip their hands into the pie that was Soul Rending Peak?
It did make sense. After all, Soul Rending Peak couldn’t arbitrarily change their rules for fear of losing the protection their ancestors worked for. So, it would be better to control those with power under Soul Rending Peak than to directly control Soul Rending Peak itself…
“This here is a glass work that a celestial adept in the intent of craftsmanship created. Legend has it that she was only a step away from stepping into the world of daos, but she unfortunately passed away before she could do so.
“Despite this, we still worship her as our Den Mother. She truly laid the foundation for what our nunnery has become today.”
Dyon followed and silently took note of a few things. Hearing about this intent of craftsmanship, he was intrigued.
According to his master’s memories, there were many wills and intents not related to combat. For example, when Dyon first entered Focus Academy, he made use of these very wills to speed read. This, itself, showed that wills weren’t only created for the sake of growing stronger physically, but could also be incorporated into the mental aspects of cultivation. The kind of will that would be a part of growing a strong mentality that would greatly help with you dao heart.
Often times, martial warriors would delve into the arts of painting and writing, things like calligraphy and entertainment, all for the sake of calming their spirit and strengthening their dao.
Craftsmanship was among these ‘Mentality Daos’.
Interestingly enough, The 25th White Mother’s memories also contained a theory that posited the possibility of using mentality daos to cultivate instead of following the conventional path, the devil path, or paths like them that may have been lost to time.
There were legends of existences that were mortal, but still managed to live for tens of thousands of years before breaking through and transcending.
Of course, these were just legends. The idea of someone, completely mortal, leaping over levels of cultivaiton even the most talented of geniuses found difficult to pass through, and directly transcending seemed ridiculous. But, that didn’t stop Dyon’s master from spending a lot of time studying it as she found these stories quite cathertic comapred to the true brutality of the martial world.
‘What do you think Old Lizard, do those people really exist on the transcendent plane? Do they exist?’
There was a long pause between Dyon’s question and the Dragon King’s answer before the ancient voice took a deep breath.
‘The simple answer is that I don’t know.’
‘And the complicated answer?’
‘… It’s not completely outside the realm of possibility. I’ve found evidence of three such individuals, but each and every one of them disappeared without a trace. It’s impossible to tell whether I was seeing what I wanted to see, or if these individuals truly existed.’
Dyon nodded. He could understand why the Dragon King and any transcendent would be eager to find these ‘mortals’. The transcendent plane, more than any other cultivation level before it, heavily relied on one’s mentality. Everything from your life span to your power all relied on it. Understanding this, of course a transcendent would want to exchange pointers with such an individual. Maybe only these geniuses had the key to everything.
After this, the twin nuns introduced Dyon to tens of other ancestors they worshipped. It seemed that The Cathedral didn’t have ‘a God’, per se. But, rather, they had a collection of individuals who once lived that were lauded and respected enough to land in their hall of worship.
In this way, The Cathedral didn’t peddle a religion, but rather showed a path to enlightenment that conformed to ‘The Way’ these legendary ancestors lived their lives to reach the level of cultivation that they did. Because of a promise of growing stronger, the general population and even the elites began to buy into the teachings of The Cathedral, believing that they were all left behind by these ancestors.
Using this, The Cathedral was able to enforce a lot of rules that ranged from innocent things like ‘amiability with one’s neighbors’ all the way and up to the banning of soul cultivation.