As Tang Xiaoqi used iron fist and conciliation to forcefully stabilize the Alliance's overall situation, vigorously purging the Shadow Assembly and treating demonic mark patients, Mu Xue, this Nascent Soul True Lord from Xuanji Holy Land with her frost-like temperament, was also playing an indispensable role on the stage of easing three-race contradictions and bridging the cracks of trust, using her unique methods and wisdom.
Her identity was special. Xuanji Holy Land existed beyond worldly concerns, had a long history, and shared connections with all three races, yet belonged to none of them. This gave her a natural aura of neutrality and credibility. Moreover, her own cultivation was profound, her temperament elegant and refined, and her words and actions carried an innate power to persuade.
Mu Xue did not intervene directly in disputes like Xiaoqi had, nor did she issue any harsh orders. She chose a more roundabout, yet more profound approach.
First, she proactively visited the Human Race conservative elders who harbored strong guardedness toward Monster and Sea Tribes, led by Lei Xiao. Without direct confrontation or debate, she silently listened to their worries and anger, expressing a certain degree of understanding for their "Human-Race-Centric" ideas, acknowledging that developing exclusionary and self-preservation emotions in the face of tremendous crisis was human nature.
However, after listening, she would use calm, rational tones to guide them to think about deeper issues:
"Sect Master Lei, honored elders, worrying for your clan's safety is the mark of an elder—Mu Xue admires this. However, have you elders considered that if the Alliance falls apart from suspicion, what are our chances of victory if we humans alone face the hidden Demon Lord, the lurking Shadow Assembly, and that troublesome demonic mark problem?"
"The Shadow Assembly worships the Lord of the Void, their doctrine aims to destroy all living beings and reshape chaos. In their eyes, humans, Monster Races, Sea Tribes—there is no distinction; all are ants needing to be 'purified.' At this moment, pushing potential allies toward opposition—doesn't that precisely serve the Shadow Assembly's purpose, grieving the sincere and delighting the enemy?"
Her words were like a clear spring, slowly flowing into hearts scorched by anger and fear, unable to immediately change their deeply rooted beliefs, but enough to cool them down and re-evaluate pros and cons.
Subsequently, Mu Xue visited several Demon Kings and Sea Tribe representatives with strong attitudes. Facing their resentment and dissatisfaction, she likewise expressed understanding, and tactfully pointed out that humans were also not monolithic—Lei Xiao and his group did not represent all humans' wishes. Within the Alliance, there remained vast forces longing for unity and dedicated to resisting the Demon Calamity together.
"Now that the Demon Lord hides and the Shadow Assembly rages, this is precisely the time for the three races to unite and weather the storm. If we abandon cooperation due to some people's short-sightedness, leading to the Demon Calamity's resurgence, then where in this world—be it the fertile Human Nine Provinces, the vast Monster Mountains, or the deep Sea Tribe territories—will find peace?"
With her transcendent identity and sincere attitude, she served as a qualified "mediator" and "messenger," effectively conveying and communicating all parties' true thoughts and bottom lines without escalating contradictions, avoiding many direct conflicts that might have erupted from misunderstandings.
After private communications achieved certain results, Mu Xue did something even more important—she issued, in the name of a Xuanji Holy Land inheritor, an invitation to a Dao Discussion Assembly to all Nascent Soul stage and above cultivators in the Alliance.
The assembly's theme was not directly discussing racial conflicts or Alliance affairs, but was named: "The Same Source of the Dao, All Laws Return to Unity—On Heavenly Righteousness and Heart Demon Calamity."
The assembly was held on a suspended platform with excellent scenery and rich spiritual energy on Kunlun Mountain. Mu Xue wore a moon-white Daoist robe, like a fairy from the Moon Palace, seated upright at the main position. She did not preach any profound cultivation techniques, but began from the balance of heavenly laws, the mutual generation and restriction of righteousness and evil, and the roots and countermeasures of heart demons.
Her voice was clear and resonant, carrying the power to calm hearts, explaining principles deeply yet accessibly, pointing directly to the source. She pointed out that whether humans cultivated Qi, Monster Races tempered their bodies, or Sea Tribes contemplated water, the "Dao" they pursued ultimately pointed to understanding and application of heavenly laws—fundamentally the same. And the Foreign Demon and his lackey the Shadow Assembly represented a kind of "reverse Dao" existence attempting to destroy all laws, returning everything to chaotic silence, the common great enemy of all cultivators.
"Heart demon calamities externally manifest as obstacles to individual cultivation, but internally, are they not also this 'reverse Dao' power's erosion of our hearts?" Mu Xue's gaze swept across the three-race cultivators with various expressions, her voice calm yet carrying the power to awaken the deaf: "Now demonic marks rage, shadows lurk—this is precisely this 'reverse Dao' power amplifying our inner gaps, fears, and prejudices, attempting to collapse us from within. If we be immersed in internal strife and suspicion, we fall into its trap, controlled by heart demons, deviating from the Dao."
She did not directly accuse any party, but elevated internal contradictions and disputes to the level of "Righteous Dao" versus "Reverse Dao" and "Heart Nature" versus "Demon Obstacles," guiding everyone to examine the current crisis from a higher perspective.
The assembly lasted three days. During this period, not only did Mu Xue lecture, she also encouraged other cultivators to share their views on the Dao, on heart demons, and on the current situation. Cultivators of different races and cultivation systems, in such a relatively transcendent and rational atmosphere, began having genuine exchanges and collisions. Many past misunderstandings dissolved in these exchanges; many shared concerns emerged in discussions.
When the assembly concluded, although it couldn't make the thorns in everyone's hearts completely disappear, the thick, heavy and lingering atmosphere of suspicion and antagonism pervading the Alliance was indeed diluted considerably. At the very least, when representatives of all parties sat together again, there was less gunpowder and more composed reason in their discussions.
Mu Xue, with her wisdom, patience, and unique influence, was like a skilled physician, gently draining the accumulated "malignancy" within the Alliance, creating a better environment for Xiaoqi's iron fist policies and conciliatory measures to be implemented, laying a more solid foundation for subsequent joint operations. Her efforts, like spring winds and rain, though not publicized, were critically important. The Alliance—this giant ship, after barely avoiding being wrecked—finally adjusted its course with her help, slowly moving forward toward the common goal of confronting the enemy.