Chapter 220: The Path She Chose Will Not Betray All Living Beings 【 Seeing True Nature 】
Wen Ye and Yan Ao were equally surprised.
Wen Ye pursed his lips and said, “Pure Yin Maidens are actually things born from the union of the Human Race and the Ghost Race; they are neither fully human nor fully ghost. To call them human is a stretch.”
The System and Ming Zhaoshuang said in unison, “Nonsense!”
Ming Zhaoshuang rarely got angry, but she spoke directly to Wen Ye: “Are children of the Human Race unworthy of human rights, or are children of the Ghost Race unworthy of human rights, or are children of the Demon Race unworthy of human rights? The world is divided into Six Realms, and races are divided into five categories. Why is it that children of every race have human rights, but beings born from their union do not?”
“Before entering the auction house, did the Pure Yin Maiden commit any heinous acts? To be frank, even if she had done something terrible, she still shouldn’t be treated like this! You can go as far as to harm her, to cut off her head, to sever her hands, to chop off her feet, rather than selling her off like an object!”
Ming Zhaoshuang truly couldn’t understand why some people always used a woman’s fertility to display their own glory.
Even if a woman were an extremely wicked sinner, there was no need to treat her as a mere tool for that specific function as punishment. Such behavior was not only unreasonable but also shameless and vulgar.
Furthermore, the Pure Yin Maiden had done nothing wrong, yet all cultivators tacitly treated her as an object simply because of this particular trait.
Pure Yin Maidens are innocent!
Wen Ye had never considered it from this perspective before, and his face turned somewhat pale.
Yan Ao was also stunned by her resounding words.
He stammered, “Pure Yin Maidens are just things to enhance our cultivation…”
Yan Ao’s own mother was a Pure Yin Maiden.
According to his father, his mother was merely a tool to give birth to him and had not even raised him.
Therefore, although he was not interested in the Pure Yin Maidens at the auction, all the demons around them thought the same way: they were merely tools to enhance their cultivation. He felt there was no need for Ming Zhaoshuang to be so angry.
Ming Zhaoshuang sneered, “Are you incapable or useless that you can’t cultivate yourself? Do you have to rely on some ethereal Pure Yin Maiden to improve your cultivation!”
Xie Yanning hesitated to speak: “Pure Yin Maidens are like this throughout the Thirty-Six Heavens…”
Ming Zhaoshuang turned her head to look at Xie Yanning: “So they are all like this, therefore it is all correct? So they are all like this, therefore we should obey? Pure Yin Maidens should not be objects; Pure Yin Maidens should have their own lives, their own human rights, just like all of us cultivators. Besides helping with cultivation and refining spirit roots, what difference is there between them and ordinary women!”
“If even we women cannot empathize with Pure Yin Maidens, then if one day we fall into the same situation as Pure Yin Maidens, who will empathize with us?”
It was just like the marriage alliance between the Three Great Regions and the Dragon Domain; it was because the Dragon Domain had no women that the Three Great Regions had to contribute women to satisfy their need for reproduction!
However, for their so-called benefits, and to preserve their status above the Sword Sect in the Upper Cultivation World, the Three Great Regions readily handed over those female disciples without any consideration for the wishes of those women.
Even Shen Liqian and Shen Yuyin, daughters of the Palace Master, were no exception.
Ming Zhaoshuang finally understood the System’s words, and finally understood why the System had chosen her.
Because she was also a woman.
A woman who had received an education in equality, an education in life and human rights, and who possessed independent thought.
She could feel the hardships and the tears of women.
Xie Yanning had indeed escaped the Heavenly Dao’s control through her own efforts, but she had not yet escaped its influence on this secular world.
She also felt that the existence of Pure Yin Maidens was reasonable.
This alarmed Ming Zhaoshuang.
Xie Yanning was undoubtedly one of the most outstanding women with her own thoughts that Ming Zhaoshuang had encountered, yet even she had never thought that Pure Yin Maidens should not be objects.
This also demonstrated that the views of all cultivators in this world towards Pure Yin Maidens were the same.
Xie Yanning’s gaze could no longer be described as shocked; she looked at Ming Zhaoshuang, and a magical halo seemed to emanate from her clear and bright eyes, as if she had found something within them.
It was also as if she had suddenly awakened.
She said, “Pure Yin Maidens should indeed not exist in this world.”
Ming Zhaoshuang corrected her: “It is not that Pure Yin Maidens should not exist in this world, but rather that the prejudice against Pure Yin Maidens, the objectification of Pure Yin Maidens, should not exist in this world.”
Pure Yin Maidens are not at fault; the fault lies with those who treat them as commodities and trade them.
Wen Ye and Yan Ao fell silent, and after a long while, Wen Ye said, “You are right.”
Pure Yin Maidens are not objects.
Even if they are beautiful, even if they are naturally cauldrons, even if they can purify spirit roots, even if they can give birth to children with extraordinary talent, they should not be reduced to mere tools in their hands.
Qin Feilong said, “Then, we are also going to auction for a Pure Yin Maiden.”
Xie Yanning pondered, “The problem is, our Demon Stones are not enough.”
A Pure Yin Maiden in the Upper Realm would start at least at fifty thousand Spirit Stones, which translates to one hundred fifty thousand Demon Stones. While they currently had that many Demon Stones, they still needed to bid for the Nine-Orifice Lotus Root Silk.
The remaining Demon Stones were absolutely insufficient to purchase an expensive Pure Yin Maiden.
Wen Ye said, “This Pure Yin Maiden still possesses her primal yin, and the starting bid is two hundred thousand Demon Stones. The Imperial Family and the Five Great Noble Families will participate, and their funds are far more substantial than yours. Bidding the Pure Yin Maiden up to one million is not unreasonable.”
After all, something like a Pure Yin Maiden can improve one’s bloodline and spirit roots, essentially strengthening one’s foundation. No Patriarch would pass up such an opportunity.
One million was indeed too exorbitant for them.
Most importantly, the Pure Yin Maiden was being vied for by the Imperial Family and the Noble Families. Ming Zhaoshuang and the others, without any background, simply could not compete.
Ming Zhaoshuang fell silent.
Reason told her that she should give up on the Pure Yin Maiden, but the surging blood in her chest told her that she should not.
She had no right to compete.
This was the truth, and this was the reason she was unwilling to compete.
In the end, Ming Zhaoshuang raised her head, bit her lip, turned to look at Xie Yanning and Qin Feilong, and asked Wen Ye, “Are you still accepting Talismans from Zhen Hanliu?”
She spread out her remaining ten Talismans, her gaze sharp and resolute.
Wen Ye said, “Why go through such trouble? Clearly, your trip was not for a Pure Yin Maiden, so why would you expend so much effort for a… woman you’ve never even met.”
Ten Talismans from Zhen Hanliu represented all of Ming Zhaoshuang’s savings.
Ming Zhaoshuang shook her head, “I don’t know. I only know that if I don’t do it, no one else will; if I don’t act, no one else will.”
In Ming Zhaoshuang’s Sea of Consciousness, Bai Bai’s eyes suddenly opened at this sentence.
So familiar.
Someone else had said these words to him before.
He was momentarily stunned and spoke to an unknown entity: 【 Do you remember? You said this too. The person you chose this time has walked the same path as you, both choosing the Path of All Living Beings. 】
No one responded.
After a long, long time, a voice was faintly heard:
【 Wrong, she didn’t choose the Path of All Living Beings; it’s just that… the path she chose will not betray all living beings. 】
Their conversation was mixed with strong Soul Power, so even within Ming Zhaoshuang’s Sea of Consciousness, she could not hear it.
Ming Zhaoshuang continued, “I want to save this Pure Yin Maiden. I don’t want to see her become an object for lust or a tool for reproduction. I want her to live freely under the gaze of the world, just like us.”
She was clearly not a woman who acted out of kindness, and she was now in a dangerous situation. There was no reason for her to sacrifice all of this for a Pure Yin Maiden, yet she couldn’t just stand by and watch such an innocent woman wither before her eyes, even though she herself didn’t understand why she was doing it.
She simply wanted to do it.
It was like when she had wanted to form a Life and Death Contract with a Dragon, she had wanted to do it without any particular reason.
This might be her destiny.
But this kind of destiny was something she liked, something she wanted to do.
She could clearly feel that if she didn’t do this, she would definitely regret it in the future.
She never did things that made her regret.
