Cang Shixuan sat upon the throne within his palace hall.
Despite the immense chamber, the figure on the throne looked no older than nine.
"Come in, Arven."
The massive doors opened. A tall man stepped inside, dark-skinned, slim, carrying himself with practiced precision. He walked several paces toward the throne, then stopped.
He bowed. "Your Eminence."
At the boy's silent acknowledgment, Arven straightened.
"Where shall we begin?"
Cang Shixuan leaned back. "I haven't decided yet. The Inner Council is stirred up about the girl. About what she is. About what Heiyun saw."
Arven's expression didn't change.
"Does her importance lie solely in what she is? Or can that importance extend to the council?"
He paused.
"Will the council eventually have to decide who among you is worthy of such benefit?"
Cang looked at him for a long moment.
"My right-hand man indeed," he said with a faint smile.
Then his eyes brightened.
"But I suppose I don't need to concern myself with benefiting from the girl."
Arven waited.
"After all," Cang continued, "we already have someone of equal importance in our chamber."
Arven's gaze sharpened.
"The boy."
"Right." Cang leaned forward. "Since we have him here, we might as well extract his value first. Once we understand that… perhaps we can determine the girl's importance without sacrificing anyone to read the Tome."
Arven nodded.
"What about the Outer Council?"
Cang tilted his head. "What about them?"
"The situation is delicate. We sabotaged them from behind and sent our people to retrieve the spoils under the guise of training."
"They are almost certainly aware of what we did."
"However, they currently lack proof with which to confront us."
He paused.
"Which means we should expect them to begin playing the same games."
Cang suddenly brightened, smiling like a genuine child.
"That's it."
"The spoils."
He leaned forward eagerly.
"The spoils. Did we collect enough rings? Were we able to recover the blood of those who died? Did the rings function properly? What are the ratios between abstract and physical concepts?"
Arven bowed deeply.
"Forgive my negligence, Your Eminence. I will confirm the exact details with my workers before giving a full report."
He straightened.
"But yes, the rings worked. We have already distributed them to the other Rulers' realms. We can begin experiments on abstract concepts."
His voice remained even.
"With the progress we have made, we should soon understand the factors that determine why and how a connection to a concept is formed."
Cang's smile widened.
"So once we understand those factors… we can manipulate them."
Arven spoke again.
"Your Eminence. We may comprehend those principles. But we may still lack the ability to alter anything at that level."
Cang's expression shifted slightly.
Arven paused.
"However… with the boy currently in our custody… we should make significant progress."