Chapter 1381: Twilight of the Gods
Chapter 1381: Twilight of the Gods
If the Western Daoist Order truly resolved to abolish blood sacrifice, it could be done, but the cost would be too high.In short, it was not worth it.
Qi Xuansu could not help but recall the past. He had killed Wan Xiuwu and imprisoned Yue Liuli back then, when he was young and naive, still wrestling with the difference between procedural justice and substantive justice.
As his status rose and his experience broadened, his perspective gradually changed as well.
Law was related to justice, but it could not fully represent it.
If a law aligned with the common consensus, then to some extent, it was just and even carried a sense of sanctity that extended to those who uphold it. But if a law contradicted that consensus, then it was not considered just, let alone sacred.
At its core, law was a tool to safeguard the interests of the ruling class. One could say its function was to define what justice was, but whose justice? If it aligned with the interests of the majority, then it was the justice of the majority.
Qi Xuansu came to realize that the Daoist Order did not truly care about procedural or substantive justice. It only cared about cost—maintaining order at the lowest possible expense.
Justice was not the priority; stability was. Under the overarching goal of stability, costs must be minimized.
The Western Daoist Order had clearly inherited this line of thinking. Abolishing blood sacrifice would create massive instability, which would go against their priority. The ancient gods and the priestly class would certainly resist, leading to rebellion and internal conflict. The cost would be too great for them to bear, so they chose not to abolish it.
This was not flawed reasoning. Once the order collapsed, the number of deaths could easily reach into the millions. Even a partial breakdown of order would be unbearable.
If the ancient gods and the priestly class were to rebel, how many would die? If the Holy Court took advantage of the chaos, how many more would perish?