Threads 509 Ith 3

Zhu Fan raised his eyebrows, but did not object.

“That said, I hope that Minister Tang would be willing to ensure that his magistrate accept some number of Spiritual Affairs members into his judicial retinue. While I believe your approach is correct, Spiritual Affairs has invaluable expertise here.”

“Not an unreasonable proposal. While it is my opinion, having observed the representative the Duchess procured, that the ‘inhuman’ nature of the ith is exaggerated, further expertise would be welcomed.”

Ling Qi tilted her head. “I am surprised to hear you say this, Minister Tang.”

He snorted. “These foreign things… They are not bound hard enough to Law to be spirits. Their minds squirm around it and seek loopholes in it. Their bodies are strange, and their structures stranger, but they think as humans do. This, I see. I am mindful of the possibility that their Law may simply be too unfamiliar to me. Some spirits of the far wilderness are this way to my mind, raised here within the great city.”

“Understanding comes from a lot of directions,” Sixiang murmured. “You’re human cause you see a rule and start looking for how you can twist it in knots, huh?”

Her muse sounded thoughtful.

Ling Qi acknowledged Minister Tang’s point. “That is not a perspective I have considered.”

“It is one he has shared with me. While it has some merit, I must disagree.” Zhu Fan shook his head. “Spirits may need humans to change themselves deeply, but they evolve in their own ways and bend their Laws to new ends when the environment changes. It is just a far slower evolution than humans undergo.”

“A debate for another time,” Minister Tang cut in. “I sense that you still do not fully approve of my proposal, Baroness.”

“It is not the one I might have chosen a month ago,” Ling Qi agreed. “Recent events change considerations, as they did for you. Coming here, I expected that my difficulty would be on impressing upon the ministries the importance of tackling this task at all.”

“Candid of you,” Zhu Fan said, mildly amused.

“Rude,” Minister Tang grunted. “But accurate, I grant. It was not a priority.”

Ling Qi said, “So, in the past, I might have advised a slower and gentler approach, but knowing what I know now, I think the Ha-yith-Kai must be seen to be complying with and under the imperial officials’ eyes. Although they may dislike it greatly, public sentiment toward them must be managed.”

“The people and the court are in a furor over the attacks, even without the insult delivered made available to the public. I can see some value in managing this,” Zhu Fan allowed.

Ling Qi nodded. “It is one factor, which I thank the Minister for acknowledging.”

Consensus. That word Tcho-Ri kept using, the way the ith she had observed spoke to one another, and the way they seemed to think these attacks on mortals were a show of strength…

“We may assume the Ha-yith-kai observe us as we observe them. It is my fear that if they see public anger and hate toward them rising from these attacks, they will assume it must mean that the Duchess will reflect this. In speaking to the Ha-yith-kai representative, there seemed to be an embedded notion that a god would act in line with the will of their people, rather than the reverse. This is why their god did not fight even when the Duchess came alone. They feared the clash of two white realm cultivators more than they had the pride to resist the intrusion.”

“One should not always take the posturing of the defeated, salving their crushed pride, with utmost seriousness,” Minister Tang cautioned. “I have heard these words before. I acknowledge it is strange that they surrendered without their god coming to show their face at least.”

“A spirit court’s lord cannot always act overtly without great disruption. If the ith are like those in the south, who imply their greatest cultivators are location bound, merely awakening them could be highly disruptive,” Zhu Fan theorized.

“That would be akin to the Xuan and their fortress protocols for a major island going to war,” Minister Tang mused. “That might explain the reticence even to let us speak to these Minds.”

“Or perhaps it is a sacral matter?” Zhu Fan proposed. “A god who does not speak to those beneath them?”

“Then they will need to unstiffen their necks,” Minister Tang said flatly. “Even the most ill controlled sovereign can speak without ruin to cultivators of reasonable realm.”

“That does tie into my other concerns. Minister Tang, if you could soften your stance on location, I believe this would be beneficial. Even if I agree we must get a proper feel for the thinking of the ith’s actual leaders, placing your agent directly in the equivalent of their palace may be…”

“Religiously disruptive,” Zhu Fan finished. “For beings who cultivate impurity, the presence of a high realm might be akin to dumping a mass of corpses into the middle of a temple pool and insisting that they remain there.”

“It is not rare for corruption or malice or simple nepotism to wear the clothes of religion,” Minister Tang contended frostily. “We must observe their process of governance, if any proper comprehension is to be had.”

“I am well aware of your opinion on priests and the way that they were allowed to abuse their privileges in the past,” Zhu Fan replied, looking disgruntled. “I acknowledge this can be a problem. However, currently, we know too little to tell a misdirection from an honest spiritual concern.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Ling Qi knew in Tonghou, there had been plenty of priests who were self-interested about how they performed their rites.

“I agree that this is a concern, but I think we should give some consideration to the Ha-yith-kai, especially if they are otherwise cooperative. We could allow some flexibility without letting them obscure their power centers.”

“I can bend to some degree, but I will not accept a location outside of what passes for a city center,” Minister Tang insisted.