The Junior Ritualist trembled as he lowered his sleeves. Meeting Wang Yang's sincere, gentle gaze, he felt utterly lost and asked in a shaking voice:
"You... really are... really... B-but if the Sacred Barbarian Ba Dan misheard him, why didn't King Pan tell him-"
Wang Yang shook his head:
"King Pan's intentions are not yours to fathom. Though Ba Dan misheard the divine words, his heart held true devotion, and he had the potential to become a Divine Envoy. Thus King Pan concealed the mystery for a time. This was his trial for Ba Dan: to see whether, in his remaining years, he could recognize his mistake and remove the prejudice from his heart. It was also King Pan's trial for the Yidu Tribe: to see when its people would grasp his true intentions, and thereby hone your eyes to discern the true way."
"Moreover, your tribe was being oppressed by the Han people at the time. Though the mistaken teachings Ba Dan passed down strayed from King Pan's path, they unwittingly gathered your scattered hearts together, gradually nurturing the roots of prosperity. So, my friend, please do not hate Ba Dan. Though he committed an unwitting mistake, he was not without merit-"
Wang Yang straightened, compassion rising on his face, as though he were giving voice to a loyalty in Ba Dan that had never been understood. Unconsciously, the Junior Ritualist's gaze followed him upward, looking up at him.
Wang Yang continued:
"He was King Pan's faithful servant. Though he took the wrong path, he never ceased his efforts to serve King Pan. Through a faulty method, he fired a misshapen, inferior earthen vessel. Yet that vessel once held spring water that embodied life, sustaining your tribe through the desert."
The mood below the platform grew solemn. Many of