He turned from the window. His dark eyes found the elders.
"Prepare the journey," he said. "We will find this ancestor. We will assess him. And if he is what the reports say — if his power is real — then we will offer the engagement. I will speak with Yuhan."
He walked toward the doorway. His enormous frame filled the arch. He paused.
"And elders," he said, without turning. "We will not use the vulgar terms of the common folk in this hall. This is the Azure Cloud Sect. We speak with refinement. What this ancestor does with mortal women — the transfer of spiritual essence through physical union — is a method. A technique. We will treat it as such, regardless of how it appears to the uneducated."
He left.
The elders sat in silence. The informant remained on his knees. The cloud-wreathed peak of the Azure Cloud Sect held its breath.
Jin Yuhan stood in the inner garden.
