I disagree with this. Knowing their goals can help, but those goals (the ones the soldiers we'll interrogate, anyway), will be lies, not the true goals of the Sun. However, learning the philosophy of their arts will teach us more, especially if it's the top brass of Shao's military that give soldiers their firstarts. Again, arts are ways to impart lessons and insights that shape your worldview. We'll directly see the lessons trickling down from the top.
SNR can teach a White Serpent that stillness and tranquillity mean they are above damage and might create a worldview of arrogance and superiority. Knowing the philosophy of SNR gives us an inside view into the thoughts of the Bai and how they think. What does an art from the Western teach its soldiers? What do they think?
How do they think? How do they see the world? By knowing the philosophies behind their arts, we'll know this and can anticipate their goals.
As Abeo said, goals can and will change, especially if Shao manages to feed them more propaganda about the Jungle's new passivity. So knowing how they think and work means we can still anticipate it.
Plus, it's the option that explicitly helps with assuaging their concerns in relation to the Sun and the Jungle, while learning about their goals only helps with negotiations. But we already have lots of insider information and concessions because of our deal with Ji Rong, so I don't see how it'll help.
Plus, I hope we can get some lore on how the Red Garden philosophies and cultivation styles have shaped and mixed with the West's ky, which will be invaluable when we eventually start doing the same with the White Sky
[X] Dig into the philosophy of their arts more, in relation to the Red Goddess. Not the secrets which would never be shared, but their outward purpose. If she could articulate that well and truthfully it might settle the Twisted Pine's nerves.
Okay so, from what I've seen, Thief of Names will be Ling Qi's new perception art that she'll create after training with Shu Yue. Now, since Ling Qi first touched upon Shen and [COMMUNICATION] in the tribulation, it looks like it'll be an art to train her ability to look into people's Ways and thoughts, like what she did with Xia Ren, Jiao, and Liling.
Now, there's also the mantling she did of Huisheng, but I think that's a separate thing that'll become a Domain ability.
