Watching this scene, Li Chen sighed within the imperial palace. "Sure enough, he has none of a Grandmaster Artisan's dignity or bearing."
Pan Ning, however, was long accustomed to such sights. "This is a world ruled by the Outer Dao. He is no Puppet Dao Master of ours. How could dignity and independence possibly come easily to him?"
"Indeed," Li Chen said. "Even if he wanted dignity and tried to lay out the facts and reason with them, those Confucian Sect disciples and court ministers would not listen. Only by holding power himself could he put his own Dao into practice."
"But since ancient times, people have said that those who labor with their minds govern others, while those who labor with their bodies are governed. These Construction Workers and Array Dao experts labor with both mind and body, yet cannot govern themselves. What must be done to change all this?"
"This is precisely the state our Puppet Dao forebears sought," Pan Ning said. "Unfortunately, even after a million years, we have yet to find an answer."
"Even among us Puppet Masters," Li Chen said, "there are distorted practices, with Puppet Dao Masters oppressing Grand Artisans and authority overriding truth. We have no aristocratic clans or sects bound together by blood ties, but we still have Academic Factions and Schools."
"Fortunately, our predecessors anticipated this problem long ago. Heavenly Will, which represents the sect's will and core ideals, exists as our final safeguard."
Pan Ning asked, "If you attained the Great Dao and became a Grandmaster and Great Power, what would you do?"
"If I attained the Great Dao," Li Chen said, "even if I could not change the whole world, I would at least establish Materialized Heaven under my own rule-a paradise on earth!"
"There, technical skill would reign