It wasn't that Fu Xuan was completely ignorant of political struggles. Far from it. But the exceedingly long lifespans on the Xianzhou meant that such conflicts could be observed over vast stretches of time, allowing one to witness societal shifts and accept them with greater composure.
To put it bluntly, the social conflicts experienced by the long-lived were simply stretched out by their longevity.
One could only imagine how terrible the political climate of the Xianzhou must have been back then for their long-lived ancestors to have been driven to rebellion.
Fu Xuan had never before considered changing the internal political structure of the Xianzhou, let alone entertained the possibility that she might one day have the chance to take control of the Alchemy Commission.
For the Divination Commission to swallow the Alchemy Commission whole was something she wouldn't have dared to dream of in the past.
Yet Noldrei was bold enough to not only think it but to act on it, and she had no idea where he found such determination. To be honest, a part of Fu Xuan wanted to back down.
Her main objective was to root out the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus hiding within the Alchemy Commission. Ideally, she wanted to bring them to justice, make a public example of them, and find evidence of their attempts to follow the traitorous path of the Medicine King against The Hunt.
As for bringing the Alchemy Commission under the Divination Commission's purview, she had never considered such a thing before.
"Let me think about it first. This isn't something that can be solved with just a few words from you. I've never even considered this kind of problem..."
Fu Xuan hesitated for a long while before finally managing to come up with the terrible solution of "leaving it to time."
Noldrei didn't try to press her. He already had a general idea of Fu Xuan's situation. He didn't know what kind of blow this girl had suffered to make her so fixated on the results of her divinations.
This obsession was like a horror story, where her very struggles to break free helplessly closed the loop on the fate she foresaw.
'Something similar must have happened to her,' he thought. 'But it's a pity. Even with these talismans, the jade abacus, and her so-called 'matrix,' they are all invariably connected to Imaginary Energy. As long as the world of Imaginary Energy continues to operate, it's impossible to use it to calculate something that transcends its own possibilities.'
Noldrei didn't force Fu Xuan to give up on her idea of escaping fate.
He'd seen similar things throughout history. Wasn't it just someone wallowing in fatalism?
"Well, you should think it over quickly. Things might develop faster than you imagine."
Noldrei's straightforward advice was not met with the reception it deserved.
Fu Xuan shot him a look. "Don't be ridiculous. If you weren't pushing things along, how could they possibly be moving this fast?"
She had also noticed the signs of Noldrei manipulating events behind the scenes. The most frightening part was that he wasn't even afraid of others knowing what he was doing; he even dared to speak of it openly in front of her.
All Fu Xuan could do was try to find that one tiny... lie? ...amidst his mountain of truths.
She wasn't sure if she could find it. Even her divinations yielded many ambiguous results.
"I'm leaving. I still have to report back to the General."
Fu Xuan's thoughts were in turmoil. She wasn't going to stay and make a fool of herself—being constantly cornered in a conversation was hardly a pleasant experience.
Halfway out, she suddenly stopped.
She remembered the question Noldrei had posed to her not long ago. She turned, about to speak, but involuntarily shrank back.
After a long hesitation, Fu Xuan still couldn't bring herself to ask the question: "Can fate truly be changed?"
She figured Noldrei probably didn't have the answer anyway.
'He can't perform divinations or see the future, so there's no point in asking him about this stuff,' she thought.
With that, Fu Xuan picked up her pace and hurried away.
'What's with that attitude?'
A series of question marks popped up over Noldrei's head. Anyone who didn't know better would think there was something wrong with Fu Xuan.
He couldn't be bothered to figure out what she was thinking. Noticing that the sound of the automatic mahjong table in the room had stopped, Noldrei went back inside.
As soon as he entered, he saw Qingque, who had been playing mahjong there for a long time. He couldn't help but ask, "Have you ever considered giving up this... 'entertainment'? You shouldn't take it for granted when others go easy on you."
Qingque hadn't expected him to be so brutal. He'd barely walked in the door and was already attacking her competitive drive.
"Even if you got dumped by Lady Diviner, you don't have to take it out on me, right? I mean, the way she was looking at you when she left, all hesitant and longing... the tension was palpable."
'I get the feeling she's misunderstood something.'
Noldrei glanced at Elysia, then at the Herrscher of Sentience.
"What have you all been doing while I was gone?"
Elysia replied with a nonchalant look, "Just playing mahjong. What's the big deal? Isn't this common back in Shenzhou? The men go out to work, and the women stay home playing mahjong and squandering the money. I'm just paying homage to traditional culture."
"Homage my ass!" Noldrei shot back without hesitation, positive that this woman, Elysia, was up to no good.
It was just like with Aponia back then. As the Herrscher of Origin, Elysia was born with the ability to influence authority over Honkai Energy. How could someone like Aponia, who used Honkai Energy to empower her prophecies, possibly be a match for Elysia?
It was only natural that the future Aponia foresaw was a chaotic mess. With all the authority in Elysia's hands, it would have been strange if Aponia could see anything clearly.
Qingque said cautiously, "Um... can I leave now?"
She felt it was probably best not to stick around.
Qingque had to get back to the Divination Commission ahead of time. It would be a disaster if the Lady Diviner changed her clothes and returned, only to find that Master Qingque had gone out to slack off.
"Fine, hurry up and go! There's nothing for you here! All you do all day is play mahjong. Don't you have any ambition in life?!"
Noldrei decided Qingque was a bad influence on his people. This girl was a true menace.
"What other ambitions could I have?" Qingque asked, looking at him in confusion. "Isn't this pretty good?"
"You could take up fishing as a hobby!" Noldrei replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "In a primitive world like this, life must be so boring if you don't even know how to fish."
Qingque thought he was just spouting nonsense. What was so great about fishing, and why was he lecturing her, a humble archive keeper, about it?
What Qingque didn't realize was that the "fishing" Noldrei spoke of was something entirely different from what she imagined.
"I'm not doing something so troublesome. Playing with jade tiles is much more relaxing. Anyway, I have to get back to the Divination Commission before the Lady Diviner does. Next time we have a chance..."
A sudden idea struck Qingque, and she thought of a brilliant plan.
"I'll tell you what the Lady Diviner is up to, and you'll be in charge of asking her out. That way, I can slack off! It's killing two birds with one stone!"
The Divination Commission staff who had come with Qingque were dumbfounded. Now that's what you call a loyal subordinate.