After leaving, Fu Xuan didn't go straight back to the Divination Commission. Instead, she went to see General Jing Yuan directly.
Every time she saw him, it seemed as if Jing Yuan had all the free time in the world. This puzzled the Master Diviner. Just managing the Divination Commission kept her incredibly busy; she couldn't imagine the mountain of work that came with being the General.
Fu Xuan had come to the General to report on her work.
"Lady Fu, what brings you here at this hour?"
Jing Yuan had expected Fu Xuan to take more time. He was a little surprised that she had come to see him so soon.
Fu Xuan saw no reason to hide anything and laid out everything Noldrei had done, plainly and simply.
Jing Yuan wasn't surprised in the least. From his very first meeting with Noldrei, he had noticed that the man's focus was entirely different from anyone else's.
It was for that very reason that he had quickly dispatched this formidable figure to deal with the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.
As it turned out, Jing Yuan's stroke of genius at that time had been the correct choice.
The more difficult problem now was Fu Xuan. This was likely the first time in her life she had ever been faced with a personnel change as monumental as merging the Divination and Alchemy Commissions.
"Then what are your thoughts, Lady Fu? I'm referring to his proposed political policy—using the Divination Commission's ideology to guide the work. Do you believe this aligns with the current state of our Xianzhou people?"
Fu Xuan pondered for a moment before explaining, "The temptation is indeed great, especially knowing that I could better control artisanship and alchemy to achieve my goals. The Jade Gate Xianzhou, where I came from, had a tradition of divining for every matter. In practice, it was much closer to the state he described, with the Divination Commission presiding over the Six Commissions."
As she spoke, a hint of hesitation crept into her voice. In her heart, Fu Xuan didn't believe the situation Noldrei described was the same as the one on the Jade Gate Xianzhou.
There, it was common for people to perform a divination before taking any action. This meant that once an outcome was determined to be auspicious or inauspicious, no one would try to change it easily.
The problem was that this introduced a new variable: the act of divination itself influenced the outcome. This was the very weakness Noldrei had attacked.
It was the first time a memory buried deep in her heart had been so ruthlessly exposed and assailed.
In Noldrei's words, divination was little more than a tool of deception and bewitchment, used to control the hearts of the people.
That man was openly mocking those who used divination to escape fatalism, arguing that it wasn't that they couldn't escape fate, but that the very act of divining was a surrender to it.
It was the diviners themselves who crashed headfirst into their own destiny. The cause and effect of their lives were so laughable they made His Majesty the Emperor want to laugh.
For the head of the Divination Commission to harbor doubts about divination was somewhat heretical, but deep down, Fu Xuan actually agreed with Noldrei's view.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have tried to tackle her work without relying on it.
Jing Yuan, however, didn't think Noldrei would create a situation like the one on the Jade Gate Xianzhou.
Noldrei was the kind of person whose words could pierce the heart. The single concept of "trust" was enough to suspend every member of the Divination Commission in an impossible position.
Would there be diviners within the Commission who acted for their own selfish interests, just as Noldrei implied?
Jing Yuan didn't even have to think about it.
Of course there would be. It was a one-hundred-percent certainty.
The viciousness of this scheme wasn't just about using an information gap to steer events; it was a complete inversion of the ideology behind ruling people.
Instilling certain ideas into others' minds through prophecy has been a common method of creating allies since ancient times. It wasn't a particularly sophisticated method of control, yet it produced a tangible result that someone would inevitably believe.
Under normal circumstances, people would assume that at this point, the superstition had succeeded.
But that wasn't the case. The true success of the superstition wasn't in this first step, but in the second.
Jing Yuan sighed and said, "Fu Xuan, everything depends on your choice. If you're feeling lost right now, allow me to tell you what this gentleman will likely do next."
Fu Xuan looked at Jing Yuan, her small face filled with confusion.
"Making you think about such a deep problem is... a bit too... Never mind..." Jing Yuan ultimately gave up on 'attacking' Fu Xuan and steered the conversation back to Noldrei's plan of merging the two commissions.
"The power of a superstition lies not in the belief itself, but in the new system of organizational relationships it creates. Within this system, it leads to an uncontrollable outcome, guiding everyone down a path of error because of that belief."
"At that point, the superstition has been successfully constructed. Think carefully, what do you suppose happens next?"
Jing Yuan's question sent Fu Xuan into deep thought.
'Leads everyone to make a mistake...?'
'Everyone...?' 'Make a mistake...?'
"Could it be...!"
A flash of insight sparked in Fu Xuan's mind, and she saw the suffocating final outcome.
Jing Yuan nodded. "You see the result. If everyone makes a mistake, then everyone must bear the responsibility. But the ultimate consequence is that everyone will persist in their mistake rather than ever accept the blame. Once they know they have erred, they will cling even more fanatically to the superstition to protect their own social interests."
"As a result, everyone is made complicit, and there is no turning back. And even when we have to clean up the mess, we can only punish the ringleaders and let the accomplices off lightly. An error like this need only happen once, and all similar organizations will become untrustworthy from then on."
"That is the true venom of this scheme."
"Under such circumstances, the Alchemy Commission will never be able to hold its head high among the Six Commissions again. It will be completely dismantled, broken apart, and absorbed into the new faith of the Xianzhou—the Pure Land Faction he has created."
"In the future, there will be no Alchemy Commission, only a new 'Pure Land Commission.'"
After he finished speaking, Jing Yuan's expression was serene, showing no ripples of concern that someone was using such a vicious scheme against one of the Luofu's own commissions.
He even asked with great interest, "Fu Xuan, the choice is entirely yours. You could seek to control the Alchemy Commission, to even have the Divination Commission dominate the minds of its people. Or perhaps you wish to use the Pure Land Faction for your own ends."
"If so, then you might as well use this method to dismantle the Alchemy Commission and expand your own sphere of influence."
"If you don't want to, you can refuse him. Then you can deal with the new Pure Land Faction and leave the Alchemy Commission as it is."
From Jing Yuan's tone, it was clear which side he supported: cleaning up the Alchemy Commission.
Fu Xuan hesitated. It wasn't that she didn't want to root out the destabilizing elements of the Sanctus Medicus disciples.
She was just simply... afraid? Or was it... excitement? Nerves?
If the General of the Divine Foresight hadn't pointed out the crux of the matter, Fu Xuan would have struggled to grasp the intricacies of this method of manipulating people in such a short time on her own.