Severus returned to the massage parlor to find that Zhang Tao had already turned it into a place of "ghostly gloom."
The electric lights had been switched off, with only a single candle burning in the room. A heavy fragrance filled the air, seemingly from the incense he had lit.
It was already somewhat hot by late June, yet this place had become as cool as an underground crypt. The yellow light that had originally been inside the topaz had now flown out, drifting around the room like smoke and circling continuously above the wine, fruit, and other food laid out on the table.
"They mean no harm," Zhang Tao told Severus. "No one has been making offerings to them."
"What?" Severus asked dazedly.
"The priests once argued with us over the matter of sacrifices," Zhang Tao replied. "Voltaire once said that Confucius was a philosopher who discussed secular philosophy, not a religious figure. The sacrificial rites he prescribed were more an expression of reverence for ghosts and spirits, rather than an attempt to borrow power from them. If the humanistic spirit of you Westerners lies in Greece and Rome, then ours lies in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period. What we emphasize is not flamboyant individuality, but the collective and ethics. For us, rites offered to Heaven are a collective activity and have little to do with whether one is devout. When we make offerings to Heaven and Earth, we hope Heaven will bless us with favorable weather and abundant harvests. When we honor our ancestors, we hope they will bless our families with peace and safety. So we do not really understand why, in order to demonstrate devotion, you still believe so firmly in your God even when it brings you no benefit at all, or