Chen Wentian and Long Yifei didn't have much time to explore this breakthrough in their relationship. He had to continue to search for gifts while she had to continue her studies. But both of them tackled their duties with newfound energy and passion.
A few days after that morning, the scheduled classes of the morning were canceled. Instead, there was an assembly in the grand banquet hall of the main campus building. All new students were gathered as well as the members of the Order. Immortal Dawn Euphony Li Shishi stood in the center of the stage, exuding a holy aura that befitted her status as the head abbotess of the school.
As Long Yifei found her usual spot, her classmate Zhao Linmei turned and whispered, "Sister Long, where have you been the past few days? I haven't been able to find you during meals, what happened?"
"Ah, my apologies, Sister Zhao. I have been studying the classic of song and dance lately. As you know, I have no background in the classic so it has been a struggle trying to catch up." Long Yifei replied.
"I see, hehe. Sister Wei said that was probably the reason, I should have trusted her wisdom." Zhao Linmei said. "I thought for a moment that you didn't like us anymore."
Long Yifei inwardly frowned. There was no need to ask why Zhao Linmei was so close to Wei Shuangshuang now all of a sudden. Zhao Linmei and her acolyte Immortal Drifting Axe Han Baohu had accepted the deal from the Seven Potentates. With the Wei Clan being a member of the Seven Potentates, Zhao Linmei and Wei Shuangshuang were naturally able to get along.
On the other hand, Long Yifei faced mounting pressure from this group that she had befriended in the beginning. Since she had rejected a member of the Seven Potentates at the Gift Exhibit, their outward friendliness was also infused with an abundance of veiled insults and back-handed criticisms. She didn't want to deal with such nonsense day after day so she quickly distanced herself from them.
"There is no reason for me to dislike anyone. We're all good sisters. I am too focused on my studies at the moment so I hope you can forward my regret to Sister Wei." Long Yifei said.
Zhao Linmei assented but before she could chatter about other useless things, a wave of spiritual energy swept over the gathered students. Everyone quieted down and faced the stage.
A few breaths later, Li Shishi's voice drifted towards them like a song, "Today is the day for a special lecture. It is an important one that we hold each year for all new students. Some that have already joined the Order know of this but the things I will discuss must be emphasized for it deals directly with the survival of our Order, our values, everything we stand for."
She paused to let the severity of her words sink in, "Today, we are going over the five prohibitions of the Order, the four great eccentricities and the one absolute sin. That's right, they are the five prohibitions our enemy, the Sororal Order of Endless Love, upholds as their virtues. Their minds are twisted. Their spirits are unclean. There is no possibility of harmony between the two Orders, not when they take part in such revolting acts that destroy a woman's virtue… Now, listen closely!"
The Virtuous Order of Chunzhen valued womanly virtue; purity of body, mind, and spirit. The four classics were considered the epitome of femininity, the right way for women to cultivate so that they could properly serve their acolytes, their men. Standing at the polar opposite was the Sororal Order of Endless Love. They also had four famous paths of cultivation which were referred to as the four great eccentricities.
The first was the eccentricity of shameless clothing, makeup, perfume, and any other external implements used to entice a man's heart. For the Virtuous Order, their clothes were simple and pure white, a symbol of the purity of one's inner self. The design was highly conservative. There were many layers. Hardly any skin was shown.
The Sororal Order, on the other hand, celebrated shameless clothing, clothes that showed excessive skin, clothes that accentuated one's sensuality. They loved to wear red but they weren't limited to a single color. Immortal Fluttering Gown Liang Chuxian, the same Abbotess Liang who tried to kidnap Long Yifei, was a practitioner of this Dao of shameless clothing.
They were experts at makeup, turning their faces into a caricature of their original visage, all for the sake of pretending to be more beautiful than they actually were. They were also experts at perfume and jewelry, dressing themselves up through external means in order to improve their attractiveness.
Such schemes were antithetical to the ways of the Virtuous Order. If a woman lacked womanly qualities, they had to improve themselves from within, not put on a set of slutty clothes, excessive makeup, or other useless things.
The second eccentricity was the Dao of acting and seduction. Acting was the art of hiding one's true self and presenting themselves as someone they weren't. It was a lie, a performance, a ruse. For a woman to put on an act to entice her man, it was an admission of her own weakness and a great disrespect to her man.
Seduction was even worse. It represented a vile intent to deceive, to seize a man through mere trickery. There was nothing honorable, nothing womanly about a seductress. They were the worst kind of women, cheap and lacking in morality.
The third eccentricity was the art of body modification. The Virtuous Order believed that a woman's body was a pure vessel gifted by the heavens. These excluded such things as tattoos and body piercings. Apart from ear piercings for earrings, no other body piercings were allowed.
The Sororal Order, on the other hand, celebrated all kinds of body modifications. They were experts at tattoos, from small innocuous ones to designs that covered a person's whole body. They loved piercings, all kinds of piercings from tongue piercings to nose piercings, belly button piercings and even piercings in intimate areas such as the nipples and on their pussy lips.
But that wasn't all. Body modifications also included unnatural additions or removals of physical characteristics through medicinal procedures. The most popular was facial modifications to improve one's beauty. The second most popular was increasing their breast size and making their buttocks round and plump.
All of these were forbidden by the Virtuous Order because in their eye, no matter how much a person modified their physical body, they could not change their inner self. Even if they became the most beautiful woman on the outside, they would still be an ugly toad inside.
The fourth eccentricity was the art of pleasure. Simply put, it taught sacred daughters how to please their men through strange and mysterious techniques. Rumors stated that even the ugliest, most unattractive woman could use the Sororal Order's pleasure arts to drive a man mad with ecstasy. Of course, such statements were mostly rumors and hearsay.
But in the Virtuous Order's opinion, a woman's virtue should be all that a man needed. Her purity of body, mind, and spirit could elicit the greatest joy and satisfaction from her man without the need for any additional techniques.
These were the four great eccentricities according to the Virtuous Order. But for the Sororal Order, they were the four classics. These four so-called eccentricities were also valid cultivation paths. No matter what the Virtuous Order wanted to say, over the years, their opponent had produced just as many talented and powerful cultivators.
The Virtuous Order could have still gotten along with the Sororal Order if it had just been the four eccentricities. But within the five prohibitions, there was still the absolute sin, the thing that the Virtuous Order absolutely could not accept.
The absolute sin was that the Sororal Order had no regard whatsoever for a woman's virginity. They did not value it at all and even saw it as a detriment. The natural result of such belief was that the Sororal Order had a completely opposite view of the relationship between a man and a woman.
For women of the Virtuous Order, they protected their virginity above all else. The man to who they lost their virginity, would be their husband for life. This was what it meant to be virtuous, to be pure of body, mind, and spirit.
The Sororal Order had no such rules. Their women could sleep with whoever they wanted and as many as they wanted. There were no restrictions. It all depended on who could provide them the most benefits for the services they could provide.
These women played with men's hearts. They were disloyal. They were selfish. They cast men aside when they became useless. These women were obscene and despicable. They were sluts, prostitutes, common whores. They were the worst kinds of women in existence!
As far as the Virtuous Order was concerned, the Sororal Order was an existential threat. There could be no future for the Virtuous Order while the Sororal Order thrived.
"Hear me! Sisters of the Virtuous Order!" Li Shishi's voice thundered across the grand hall, "Remember everything I have said today. The Sororal Order, they are your enemy. They are evil incarnate. If you get into a fight with them, kill without mercy, take no prisoners. Understand?"
"Yes, Abbotess Li!"
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