"Gladly." Huaisang sets down his brush and delicately cleans ink from his fingertips with a white handkerchief. "You understand at least that there are four great families in this region, each of us commanding a province and considerable wealth." He begins leafing through the papers on his desk, searching for something. "The Nie and Jin Sects are at war, obviously, with the Jiang and Lan Sects remaining on the sidelines. It is likely that the Jiangs would assist myself and the Lans would assist the Jin. None of us want to test the hypothetical, so they remain on the outskirts."

Finding what he's looking for, Huaisang holds out a paper. None of his underlings move to transport it for him, so it can be assumed that this implies permission to approach. "Is this the handwriting you saw? It belongs to Lan Xichen, the leader of the Lan Sect and close personal friend of Jin Guangyao. It's his Clan's restricted library that is thought to hold a copy of The Simple Man's Bright Mirror. However, access to that library is restricted to high-level Lan Clan members only. You understand the difference between a Sect and a Clan? The way we use the terms, Clan is the core of the Sect. Clan means blood or adopted family. So, very tightly restricted access."

Holding Doul's gaze without fear, Huaisang stays perfectly still while he waits for his guest to consider the evidence being presented. "It's reasonable that Lan Xichen might quote a portion of the text to his dearest friend. But to allow you to enter the library or the text to leave--and by the way I don't believe that it's an original unabridged copy--would be a severe violation of the Lan principles."