"The Heaven-Overturning Society..."
Liu Wenyu was utterly shaken, murmuring under his breath.
His eyes remained fixed on the Terminal Disc hovering above his head, and he even reached out with both hands instinctively, eager to touch it.
As an undercover spy for the Five Elders Association who had been driven to the brink by the Heavenly Profound Treasure Mirror, he knew all too well how precious this object was.
"What is this?" Liu Wenyu could not help asking.
"The Sky-Veiling Disc," Xu Bai said flatly. With a thought, he caused the Terminal Disc to turn ethereal in an instant, leaving Liu Wenyu clutching empty air.
Only then did Liu Wenyu snap back to his senses.
Reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the Terminal Disc, he cupped his hands with a grave expression and said, "Fellow Daoist, for you to seek me out today, you must have an urgent matter."
Xu Bai let out a cold snort. "Indeed. I have come to hold you accountable!"
"Ah?" Liu Wenyu was taken aback.
"Not long ago, a Dao Integration cultivator controlled by our organization via the Truth Enticement Fruit showed faint signs of losing control. Fortunately, we discovered it in time and employed alternative methods before he could successfully turn traitor, barely managing to stabilize him. Otherwise, our Heaven-Overturning Society would have suffered catastrophic losses this time," Xu Bai said in a hostile tone.
"Didn't your people claim that the Truth Enticement Fruit was a creation of a Heavenly Venerable, guaranteed to be foolproof? How could there be such a flaw?"
"Nothing but empty boasts! No wonder you've been suppressed by the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals to your current state," Xu Bai said in a slow, biting drawl, casting him a sideways glance.
"The Truth Enticement Fruit failed?" Liu Wenyu looked horrified, but soon shook his head repeatedly.
"That is absolutely impossible. As long as the Heavenly Venerable remains in this world, no Dao Integration cultivator could possibly defy His power," Liu Wenyu declared with absolute certainty.
Xu Bai said in a deep voice, "Yet that Dao Integration cultivator's loss of control truly happened. How do you explain that?"
"Fellow Daoist, please do not be rash. Tell me the whole sequence of events in detail."
Xu Bai then concealed all names and specific details, fabricating a tale of a Dao Integration cultivator who, upon sensing that he was under external control, attempted to rebel.
Liu Wenyu pondered for a while before replying, "It may be that your method of using the Truth Enticement Fruit was incorrect."
Xu Bai flared up in anger. "So you're saying it's our fault instead? We operated strictly according to the instructions you gave us back then!"
Liu Wenyu hurriedly explained, "The Truth Enticement Fruit can distort a cultivator's cognition, making them utterly convinced of even the most absurd things. But cultivators are not puppets, after all. They still possess their own minds. If the fabricated lie is too crude, then even though they will not doubt it when noticing a contradiction between the lie and their own perception, they may seek to re-verify it through various means."
"For example, if you instill in a Dao Integration cultivator the notion that 'he is actually a frail mortal who couldn't even truss a chicken,' he will certainly live according to the ways of a mortal. But if, one day, he casually slays a Nascent Soul cultivator without meaning to, the conflict between reality and cognition will force him to seek the reason behind the contradiction—to find a justification that can convince himself."
"Otherwise, the discrepancy between perception and reality could very likely drive the cultivator into madness."
"Or, for another example, if you use the Truth Enticement Fruit to instill the belief that a Dao Integration cultivator will remain loyal forever, but he senses that this belief might have arisen from some external influence, he will still be loyal to you, yet the method he adopts might be..."
"Somewhat extreme."
Liu Wenyu paused for a moment, glanced at Xu Bai, and continued, "He might believe that the Xuanhuang Realm is fraught with danger, and that exposing oneself outside without sufficient strength could easily lead to death. Therefore, he might decide to lock you in a dungeon and make you cultivate continuously until you achieve success and reach the Dao Integration realm—only letting you out once you possess enough power to roam Xuanhuang safely."
"To an outsider, this might seem twisted and utterly incomprehensible. But in his mind, it is entirely normal, completely logical, and matters taking their natural course."
"In our Five Elders Association, there was once a case where a fiercely loyal cultivator defected to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals. He remained loyal to the Five Elders Association, but he believed that the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable's might was unfathomable and beyond our ability to resist. To continue down that path would only lead to defeat and ruin. Only by proactively surrendering and facilitating a merger with the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals could there be a slim chance of survival."
Liu Wenyu said with a touch of helplessness, "He spoke with great conviction, and even went around constantly lobbying our fellow members of the Five Elders Association."
"There are actually quite a few people like this. We call them 'fixated cultivators.' They are the result of the Heavenly Venerable's inverted principles being incomplete and clashing with the overall Heavenly Dao of the Xuanhuang Realm."
"Of course, if every Heavenly Venerable were like Heavenly Venerable Wuyou, whose divine power extends to every corner of the Xuanhuang Realm, such things would never happen."
As Liu Wenyu explained, Xu Bai's expression gradually relaxed.
"When we devised the lie, we made it as comprehensive as possible. Who would have thought this would still happen..." Xu Bai grunted coldly.
Liu Wenyu sighed with resignation as well. "He is a Dao Integration cultivator after all; it is unavoidable. If they were truly that easy to control, our Five Elders Association would have unified the Xuanhuang Realm long ago. Why would we have fallen to our current state?"
"Then what should we do now? Such an important matter, yet you failed to mention it beforehand during our transaction. Letting him leave is out of the question, and keeping him under house arrest for too long will arouse suspicion. Should we just kill him and pin the blame on you?" Xu Bai asked.
Liu Wenyu was startled and pleaded hastily, "Fellow Daoist, please do not act rashly. In my view, there is still a way to remedy this."
"First, use another Truth Enticement Fruit on him to mend the flaw."
"Second..."
Liu Wenyu's expression turned somewhat peculiar. "Proactively reveal the truth before him, and then persuade him to bend his fixation back into place."
"You might as well speak more plainly," Xu Bai said, his face darkening.
Liu Wenyu lowered his voice. "Take that cultivator who defected to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals as an example. The only reason he defected was because he believed our Five Elders Association was no match for the Alliance. If you could convince him with irrefutable proof that the Five Elders Association's strength actually surpasses the Alliance's, or at least equals it, he would return to our camp."
"After all, the conviction of loyalty to the Five Elders Association in his mind has never changed."
Xu Bai understood his meaning instantly.
"Of course, if this process of persuasion is paired with another Truth Enticement Fruit, the result will be even better," Liu Wenyu added.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, does your Heaven-Overturning Society still need more Truth Enticement Fruits?" he asked.
Chapter 757